Tending the Dead
by MindlessAbnormity
Summary: Before Palawa Joko's rise to power, the great hero Koss had banded together a small group of heroes to help take down the powerful undead lich. Unfortunately for him and his company, things did not go according to plan and both him and an inexperienced field medic were left to hide from Joko's inevitable wrath.
1. Found and Forgotten

**I don't own anything except for my ideas and my OC, Julianna Fyre.**

 **Update: I went through and made some... changes to this first chapter. Nothing major, just needed to improve the writing and make things more cohesive.**

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The remaining duo stumbled into the small grotto, the knee length water splashing noisily within the cramped and enclosed area. The somewhat hidden cave near the coastline was stagnant, and a deathly odor lingered around the almost suffocating space. Only a small source of light came from what little remained of the Elonian sun, as it was casting its last rays into the mouth of the cave. Remnants of the dwindling daylight cast long shadows across the moss imbued walls, elongating the two human figure's shadows as they were sloughing through the cave's water to seek momentary refuge for the time being.

The large heavily armored warrior, better known as Koss Dejarin to any who knew of his heroic legacy, had limped towards the farthest wall and leaned against it for much needed support. He had seen a lot of death in his lifetime, but the terrible onslaught he had just thrown himself into was almost too much for him to handle. And given he had taken down a corrupt God once before, meant that it was really saying something. He had considered himself quite hardy and resilient through his lifetime, but knowing that he had just naively lured volunteers and friends to an untimely death was difficult for the weathered soldier to bear.

He winced through grit teeth as the recent memories came flooding back again. The screams of his Sunspear cohort Lonai, continually rang throughout his head, as his close friend's last moments were constantly replaying over and over again in his clouded thoughts.

Julianna Fyre, the Ascalonian healer trailing right behind him, went to prop her healing staff up against the wall before she moved to tend to the warrior's awaiting wounds. The shorter woman hadn't shared any of the same physical injuries as her counterpart, which she had found surprising given she was only spared with a few nicks and scratches at the very best. Of course, she figured such lack of luck could have easily come to Koss because he had been on the dangerous front lines of battle, whereas she had been on the outer sidelines and was trying to cast healing magic spells onto others during the bloody skirmish.

The woman sighed loudly, breaking the long silence between the two. She knew her duties as a mender weren't going to get a break anytime soon, even if the surviving duo had been seeking temporary shelter and were no longer stuck within the heat of battle. Admittedly, her current role as field medic was far different than what she was normally used to, but it was the same in the extent that she knew patients always received the first priority before she could check over herself.

Dark eyes looked over to address her patient again, as she could see from quick examination that the burly man had a large gash on his upper bicep. She had already silently judged that his foot was likely not in the best of condition either after seeing his severe limping on the way here.

The healer knew that Koss Dejarin was a tough brute of a man, even from the short time she had known him. But she also knew that no living man would be able to survive bleeding out if the brachial artery on his arm had been severed. Which unfortunately she figured it likely had, given the pulsating well of blood currently seeping out on his arm.

Her hands moved up to encompass the bulky mass of dark muscle that was stained by the rapid, still-flowing red river. Just as she was about to cast a spell to heal the deep laceration, she was interrupted by her patient suddenly speaking up.

"I appreciate the gesture friend, but I think it's safe to say that we have clearly lost this battle", Koss said, his hoarse voice nearly devoid of any emotion. He shrugged his shoulder away, physically giving the mender the impression that he didn't want her help. "Save the energy on yourself, you'll need it when Palawa Joko shows his ugly mug again. He has quite the knack for sniffing out the dying, unfortunately."

Julianna flinched backwards, her outstretched fingers recoiling back into her palms while she raised a confused brow high above its twin. She was still struggling to even think straight after the frightful events the duo had just fled from. And now her patient was refusing help when he obviously had an incredibly troubling and dire wound that was getting worse by each passing second. She rolled his words around in her head, as she didn't understand his logic or apparent lack thereof.

The healer stood there dumbly for a moment, unsure of what to do with her newfound conundrum. She looked back down at her now freshly stained hands and thought about her next choice of action. The headstrong side of her personality wanted to go against the warrior's clear demand and heal the bleeding wound whether her patient had any say or not.

But at this point, she was too exhausted to fight against it, so she decided to comply with his astonishing and bizarre request. Her eyes still hadn't moved from looking away from her red tarnished hands, as her thoughts couldn't help but wander back to the innocent Sunspear men and women in their party that never even got the opportunity to have their injuries mended.

Those same men and women that had been cut down mercilessly by the brutish Awakened soldiers before she could have even gotten the chance to react in a more timely manner.

Which in turn, was the main reason for why they had fled and were now seeking momentary refuge in this cave. As they had quite quickly realized they were on the loosing side of things.

 _"They brought you along so you could help heal them during the battle, and you obviously failed them.."_ , the woman dejectedly thought to herself, her mouth forming a taut line of frustration towards her inability. " _Why didn't they bring someone more capable than a simple clinic medic..._ "

Julianna Fyre had felt almost entirely useless during their battle. And she felt even worse upon learning from Koss on the walk here that those dead would be resurrected as Awakened soldiers and used as more fodder in Palawa Joko's growing undead army. Which to the healer, meant it would never allow those poor souls the opportunity to get a proper burial by family and friends as they would forever be damned to eternity to serve their new terrifying master.

The inexperienced field medic clenched her hands into tightened fists and held back a lump growing in the back of her throat. She shoved the darkening thoughts down and far away as she tried to focus back at the matter at hand. Responsible or not, the woman couldn't fully blame herself for their party's obvious mistake. Their group had been both severely outnumbered and out skilled, that much was readily apparent given how quickly and easily they had been cut down.

Julianna looked back up towards Koss again, observing that his line of vision was intently trained on the entrance of the cave as he watched it like a lone sentry.

"Fine then, I'll just... save my energy while you can just stand there and bleed out...", she finally replied, trying to use some kind of last minute verbal bait into convincing the warrior that he would let her heal his wound. She loudly sighed again in defeat after seeing he wasn't going to budge even an inch, as he had obviously already set his mind on it.

She concluded that his request at least meant that she could back down from her medical duties momentarily, even if she really didn't want to. The healer moved to rest against the wall next to him as she thought about their similar personalities of both being bull headed and incredibly stubborn. If she got into some verbal fit of arguing with him, it was going to be a never ending game with the two of them. She figured he had been right about her depleted energy storage though, as she knew one more cast of a large spell meant that she would be completely spent and rendered immobile from overcasting.

The imagined scenario of being completely immobilized and laying in the pool of shallow water from energy depletion ran through her mind. It meant she would have been completely rendered helpless as the Awakened monsters would have an incredibly easy job of cutting her down as she drowned within her own pool of blood.

Julianna suddenly found herself being more grateful towards Koss for having initially declined her offer to heal his wound, and she shook her head to rid herself from the conjured thoughts.

"So how long do you think it's going to take for that walking corpse to find us?" Koss suddenly said with a chuckle, coughing a bit towards the end of his comment as his one good eye continued to watch the cave entrance. He was expecting the ghastly-looking undead ruler to show up at any moment now. "You know, I think this cave smells better than him, and that's certainly saying something."

The healer surprised herself when she laughed along with the poor attempt at a joke. She welcomed the random moment of humor in their otherwise dreary and bleak situation. The undead soldiers were relentless as they were not burdened by fatigue, and they both knew that Joko wouldn't rest until all those who had dared to try and attack him were slain.

The realization of their likely demise grew ever closer as the minutes passed by.

"You know, I thought that maybe we could finally take him down once and for all if we had a good party of people", Koss continued, motioning his head down towards the companion next to him on the wall. He moved a hand up to put pressure down on the open wound of his arm, wincing again when he could feel how much colder his blood was starting to feel as it was still trailing outward near-endlessly.

The boastful warrior awkwardly cleared his throat as he tried not to make an outward show for the concern of his injury. He was desperately fighting away the evidence of knowing that his body was likely at its beginning stages of going into shock, due to how he could feel how much colder his blood had become.

He continued with his one-sided conversation though and ignored the pressing matter. "I don't suppose that you saw his insufferable face during that fight?"

"It was difficult for me to ever get a good look. I was a little occupied trying to heal everyone...", Julianna quietly replied, staring at the stilled water in front of her as the fresh images of her previous party members assaulted her thoughts once more.

"That undead bastard was just toying with us", Koss muttered, his eyes narrowing as he thought back to what he had noticed during their fight. "Joko made us think that we had the upper hand at the beginning of that battle, but it was obvious he was just holding back. He knew that he was in complete control of the situation and he had the full hand of cards during that entire fight. And I believe that much was a given, just by seeing that insufferable smirk he wore during most of battle."

The woman leaned backwards into the uncomfortable surface of the rough wall as she listened to Koss ramble on, letting out a breath of air through her nose as she recalled back to why she had even been in Elona in the first place.

When Julianna Fyre had been called to the Land of the Golden Sun after the dreadful events of Nightfall, she had been expecting something along the lines of her usual work. She had spent the most recent years of her life working as a simple healer within the city of Lion's Arch. The most grueling injuries she would ever need to mend, were deeply infected Skale bites which always came from the random travelers and merchants wayfaring through the local Krytan wildlife on their way to the big sea-faring city.

She wasn't sure what she had been expecting when a stranger named Lonai had urgently come to Kamadan seeking out a healer of any kind for their party. And given she had just arrived in the harbor with the intent to help work on the injuries suffered from the traumatic events of Nightfall, meant that her bleeding heart had been more than open to accepting the role. But unfortunately for her, the role had not been quite what she had been expecting, as she ended up tagging along on a secretive mission led by the Sunspear hero, Koss Dejarin. In turn, it resulted in delving into an assassination attempt against a corrupt undead ruler that went utterly and horrible wrong, and it was certainly the last thing the small time healer would have expected when she came to Elona to help refugees.

"Doylak spit... what have I gotten myself into", Julianna mumbled, looking towards her comrade with fallen-looking features on her face. Koss merely nodded back at her, seeming to accept the dismayed words.

She thought about what the warrior had just mentioned during his observations of the battle. To hear now that the infamous being had simply been toying with them like a demented game of cat and mouse, was nearly nauseating, and it spoke words about how cruel the abominable undead tyrant could be.

There was a pause of uncomfortable silence between the two, as they were covered in the dawning realization of their bleak situation.

The last of the sun's rays had disappeared from the cave then, leaving the pair in near darkness as they had no natural light anymore. The temperature had dropped substantially without the warm colors lighting the small area, and it became unusually and eerily quiet. Even the choir of crickets or frogs singing in the murky air around them had suddenly stilled as though time itself had stopped.

"Do you think we could leave and continue walking along the coast?...", Julianna nervously said with new hope, looking up towards the much taller man next to her. She could see the stark contrast of the lost precious liquid standing out brightly against his white armored gauntlets, even in the dark. Her medical background was trying to piece together an estimated amount of time before he ultimately succumbed to blood loss or shock.

There was a new wave of concern that hit her as she realized they wouldn't be able to get very far if they started walking again, but she continued. "I don't think we're that far from Kamadan actually, perhaps if we could find a boatswain along-"

"Look friend, I appreciate your bright outlook on our grim situation here, but Joko and his goons probably aren't too far behind now", Koss interrupted, his tone stern, but still friendly. He knew that even if the duo were able to escape the cave and make some distance away on the coast, it would only be a matter of time before the Awakened caught up to them again.

He continued. "We may as well stick it out here and try to fight back with what little strength we have left. But mark my words, I'll be dead before I allow that bag of rotting, walking flesh to kill me without a fight first."

The hero had suddenly found himself in a short fit of violent coughs after his bleak comment, which ended with a surprising bit of laughter. He looked towards the now very concerned expression that the freckled woman next to him was wearing, and he smiled widely at her, his grin stretching from ear to ear with his ever paling lips.

"Or maybe that'll be sooner than I thought", he replied, still laughing. The woman next to him didn't find his use of humor this time as entertaining though, since her face of concern hadn't changed in the slightest. He could see she had immediately gone back into her medical predisposition as she tried to address his wounds again.

Julianna knew that the deep coughing could have meant there was internal bleeding somewhere within the man's lungs. Or even worse, she hypothesized that a potentially cracked rib had possibly penetrated the delicate organ. She knew that if the stubborn warrior didn't receive healing soon, then it likely meant he was going to pass out in front of her right then and there as his body succumbed to shock. And although she still had a small amount of faith in her meager healing abilities, she knew she wouldn't be able to physically haul the Doylak of a man anywhere else on her own.

"Your wound is getting worse by the second, just let me-" she was about to inquire but her concern was suddenly interrupted by a different voice this time. Rather than Koss interrupting her again, it was the familiar voice of the undead God-king that had finally found his victims as he stood at the mouth of the cave's entrance.

"Well, it seems we finally found our elusive prey", Joko's scratchy yet unmistakable voice announced from the entrance.

The woman's own heart felt like it had completely stopped and dropped into the pit of her stomach as she could see the familiar and unmistakable figure of Palawa Joko himself walking into their shortly lived hideout. His towering height was far more intimidating now from what she had remembered from before, as she hadn't really gotten the opportunity to really look at him before.

Her frightened eyes darted towards the variety of armored figures trailing behind their master, watching as the train of Awakened soldiers walked right behind their leader in an unorganized group. The sound of splashing water sounded loudly throughout the cave but even with the added noise, she could still hear the jingling from the intricate jewelry adorning most of Joko's intricate and gaudy-looking attire.

"I'm quite partial to agreeing that death will definitely be finding you very soon, so-called hero of Elona", Joko spoke towards Koss upon overhearing the last bit of conversation between the two would-be heroes that had tried fleeing from his grasp.

The Awakened ruler confidentially strode into the mouth of the cave, his heavy gilded staff echoing against the stone floor whenever it made contact. He had been more than pleased to see that the last two surviving troublemakers that had once foolishly dared try to intercept and assassinate him, were finally within his reach once again. The bumbling mutton heads had been easy enough to find, given they had naively left a literal blood trail for him to follow after.

Just as he had predicted, both the pathetic wounded warrior and the inept healer had holed up themselves up in the closest cave near the edge of Issnur Bay. He was near-giddy to learn that the two Sunspear loving dogs had fled straight into a dead end like cornered rats, as they would no longer be able to escape the impending wrath from Elona's new and self-proclaimed God-king. Much like the so-called friends of theirs that had been in their previously slaughtered group, they would be sharing an all too similar fate.

The undead king's eyes closely watched the pair as he stopped just a few feet away from them, his dark blue eyes narrowing briefly at the frightened looking woman. He had already decided on his way here that she was going to be an anomaly in his current quest, as he had an entirely different idea of what to do with her hide. She could prove to be at least somewhat worthwhile, at least until her usefulness ran out entirely.

"Well then. It's about time the ugly bag of bones finally found us", Koss sneered at the person stopping right before them. Although he might not have been able to physically fight back anymore, he wasn't about to go down without at least getting some verbal digs back at the lich. "You know, the rumors are true that I'm not afraid of anything. Not even you, Palawa Joko."

"Oh?" Joko questioned mockingly, turning his head quizzically to the side. "Your friends and family from that pitiful Dejarin Estate didn't seem to think so. Especially after I burned their homes and decimated their pathetic lives so they could be raised and brought into my own personal army to do my every bidding."

The warrior nearly went into a blind fit of frenzy upon hearing the demise of his loved ones spill out from the ruler's wretched mouth. He found himself being pulled back by the arms of the woman next to him as she had physically stopped him in his brash action.

The tall lich merely laughed, the noise chilling to the two mortals that still stood before him. His mouth turned upward in a wicked grin as the decaying skin on his face grew taut with the movement of being stretched from such amusement. He found it incredibly entertaining that even in near death, the pitiful and ignorant warrior had still wanted to put up a fight against him. The scene should have been commended as brave to most others, but Joko merely saw it as an act of a nonsensical and pathetic defiance towards his very being. The Awakened king briefly looked back again towards the blood stained hands of the healer as she was still stubbornly trying to pull the brash man away from doing anything too reckless.

"Defying me is most certain death", the undead ruler announced then, raising his gilded staff towards the two of them. He had decided that their light conversation between one another had finally come to and end, as they were only prolonging their inevitable fate. "But I anticipated as much. Have it your way."

The surviving duo froze, looking up with mirrored horrified expression on their faces as they saw the weapon being pointed towards the both of them. Any retaliation would have proved futile against the Scourge's powerful necromantic magic.

The last thoughts that had gone through Koss's head as darkness enveloped his vision, was about how his wife Melonni, was never going to forgive him for how foolishly he had thrown his life away. He thought about his kids, especially Kossan, and how he wished he could have seen them one last time. He briefly wondered if he would see them again in The Mists.

A stream of dark-looking and repulsive magic shot out towards the last two remaining heroes.

Then there was silence again.

Julianna had kept her eyes glued shut when Joko cast the stream of magic towards her. She didn't even think about trying to cast a last minute shielding protection spell on both herself and Koss to try and block the spell. But given there was no further noise, she wondered to herself if she was actually dead and she was now awaiting judgement from Grenth himself in the Underworld.

It remained silent, save for the constant sound of dripping of water coming off from the stalactites in the ceiling high above.

Suddenly the healer could hear the dead weight of her companion slump forward and splash loudly into the murky water just before them. She choked back the sob that had been holding in the back of her throat, immediately realizing that she herself was still somehow alive but her friend was no longer among the living with her anymore. Her mind was racing a million thoughts per second, as she thought about how Joko was probably going to be true to his merciless infamy, and kill them both one at a time so the other could bear witness to the other's death before succumbing to their own.

"This loudmouth, boastful warrior shall be brought back as an Awakened to do my immediate bidding", Joko said simply, walking up to the corpse and pushing it with his clawed foot to make sure he was really dead. Though he hardly doubted the effectiveness of his own skills. "Perhaps we shall condemn him to fulfill the rest of his fruitless career within this cave."

The woman was now visibly shaking as she struggled to absorb what had just happened, and it only seemed to worsen when she heard the splashing footfall of the terrible being responsible for her companion's death coming to stand right in front of her. The smell of decay and rot immediately hit her nose from his closer proximity, although it appeared to be poorly masked with some kind of expensive fragrance or oils. She could hear the ornaments on his attire jingling noisily with any movement its owner made.

"As for our little healer here, I have much different plans in store for her", Joko said, reaching out with clawed fingers to roughly grab the female's lower jaw and physically force her to face him. She stubbornly tried to keep her face away from him at first, but he quickly concluded that he wasn't going to have that sort of childish behavior as he kept her rooted in place.

"Wretched being...", Julianna stuttered, still shaking as she dared herself to look upwards into the merciless eyes of the Awakened ruler. The pointed digits of his armored finger gauntlets were digging into the delicate flesh on her face and she visibly winced.

She tried again but was interrupted. "If you're going to kill me-",

"Kill you? Why no, I have far more elaborate and grandiose plans for you, _little one_ ", he sneered, his grip tightening. He had forgotten how soft living flesh could be when compared to that of his own. Even when the owner of it was trying to be incredibly bullheaded and keep it away from his grasp.

He waited a few moments longer before he released her chin and stood back up to his full height after he was required to lean down some ways get into the shorter woman's face.

"My hold on Elona is only just beginning", Joko continued with his monologue, looking down towards the attempted bravado of a glare the healer was putting on. "Although my Awakened army is boundless given that the number of corpses in my relentless wake only continues to grow, I still require a healer to mend their wounds. Perhaps if only for a short while, as I predict my army will become completely entirely unstoppable at a certain point. But you can live to your usefulness up until then at least."

Julianna was silent, as she stared ahead at the farthest wall of the cave. Her eyes darted over towards where her dead companion was laying before she quickly squeezed shut in near instant regret. She was still in disbelief of the situation she was faced with right now, as she was being given a position to serve under Palawa Joko's hand as a healer to his growing Awakened army.

"But I'm just a simple medic that worked in some run-down clinic", she spoke truthfully, eyes finally opening again as she looked up towards the powerful being. She was secretly hoping that perhaps her integrity would allow him to have second thoughts about his absurd plan. "There are healers far more skilled in the craft than me, I wouldn't-"

"It won't matter", he interrupted as he waved a dismissive hand and looked back down towards the felled warrior as he tapped the corpse again with the bottom of his staff for good measure. He had wanted this conversation to be over soon, as there was an entire continent that still needed conquering. "Your skills will continue to grow with time and experience, that I have no doubts about. And besides, you'll have plenty of bodies and corpses to work on."

There was a long pause between the two of them as the woman processed the words around in her head. She wondered why The Six had been so cruel in their otherworldly plan for her and why they had decided to ultimately spare her.

"Why?" she choked out after a long pause, her voice suddenly sounding hoarse as tears threatened to fall. She used the back of her hands to quickly wipe them away before any of the droplets could be seen. There was a moment of shock when she pulled her hand away and remembered how they were still stained red with the blood of her once recently living cohort.

Joko watched with sudden fascination as the woman seemed to have been going through some sort of mental breakdown due to his own actions. Already he found that she was a curious little mortal, and he found her actions to be at least somewhat entertaining, even as frustrating as they were. It was apparent now that she was already beginning to show cracks of vulnerability even through her stubborn attitude, and the long-lived ruler took pride in how easily he had been able to coax that particular weakness out of her.

"Because a healer that is alive is far more valuable compared to that of a dead one", he said as though it were the most obvious answer in the world. He outstretched a tar-stained arm as he spoke with his hand, resembling to that of someone acting within a theater. "And although my Awakened forces have an undying allegiance to me the second they are brought forth to do my bidding, you will soon learn the same obedience, even though the circumstances are vastly different."

Julianna shut her eyes tightly again, praying to whatever Gods that were still listening so they could prove to her that this was nothing but a bad dream. She was going to wake back up from this nightmare and be back on her dingy cot in Lion's Arch when she opened her eyes again. But she knew that was nothing but naive thinking at this point, as the nightmare she had found herself within was entirely too real.

"Am I going to get a choice?" she asked quietly, her voice now sounding devoid of emotion as she readied herself for the answer she knew she was going to be given.

"No", Joko replied, his crooked smile turning upwards as he watched the small healer easily comply with his demand.


	2. Setting Off

_**Update: Fixed some things in this chapter as well. Nothing major to change the story though.**_

 _ **Update Update: Fixed a couple other things. Almost nothing though.**_

 **Again, I don't own anything except for my OC.**

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 _"Am I going to get a choice?" she asked quitely, her voice now sounding devoid of emotion as she readied herself for the answer she knew she was going to be given._

 _"No", Joko replied, his crooked smile turning upwards as he watched the small healer comply with his demand._

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"We shall return back to the Bone Palace with quickened haste", Joko ordered as he turned back around to address his still waiting troops standing near the entrance to the cave. There were more important matters to be had in his continuing uprising. Dealing with the small rabble of Sunspears that had made a failed assassination attempt on his personal greatness had been nothing but a mere side project for him.

He continued, waving his arms dramatically towards his Awakened. "There's no use in wasting our time on this pathetic island any longer, we will return back to familiarity of the Desolation once more"

Julianna Fyre, the Ascalonian healer who suddenly had her life turned completely upside down, was still rooted to the same spot since meeting the infamous Scourge known as Palawa Joko. She had been spared her life, but it came with a great consequence. The terrible necromantic lich that she had only heard mere rumors about since her arrival to Elona, had forced upon her the role of becoming a healer for the walking cadavers within his Awakened army.

She blinked, trying to come to conclusion that everything was happening in real time and this wasn't actually a nightmare. Julianna felt as though she could hardly breath, unable to find the courage to move her legs as she really had no desire to follow after the filth that had caused her such an unholy mess. No amount of experience in tending to the infected Skale bites back in Lion's Arch could have ever prepared her for this.

Her dark eyes watched Joko's retreating back as he began to leave the cave, the water splashing noisily around his gilded legs. She bit her lower lip, looking down towards her felled teammate Koss again as she looked upon his lifeless corpse. Part of her hoped that maybe he wasn't actually dead, and he was simply playing a feint and was going to jump up and slay the terrible monster that was walking away any second now.

"Woman!" Joko snapped, turning on his heels when he couldn't hear the expected footfall from his new healer trailing after him. His order seemed to have broken the woman from her incapacitated trance though, but she hadn't moved still.

He narrowed his eyes towards the still-living pest, wondering if perhaps killing her off then and there would have been the better choice compared to going through the hassle of keeping her alive. Besides, the woman had even said it herself earlier. She had an apparent lack of skill in the area of the healing arts and it was certainly true that there were better and more skilled healers around the land of Elona that would live to serve him far more exceptionally.

As Joko recalled back to past times, there was that little spoiled Vabbian princess that had helped alongside the events of Nightfall with the troubling Sunspear group of heroes. He had to dig through the deep recesses of his forgotten memories to finally dig out that her name had been Tahlkora, or some such other well-to-do-hero name.

From what he had remembered back then when he had been showing past, long-since forgotten heroes how to cross the sulfurous wastes without harm in order to reach the corrupted Varesh Ossa, the Vabbian princesses had been something to that of a monk, much like Julianna.

Except she was probably a much better one.

However, Joko reasoned that the only problem with wanting to be more picky about choosing a specific person of interest, was that time was of the essence, and the lich had what was given to him for the time being.

Which unfortunately for him, left him with the quivering, stubborn woman still dumbly standing in the dark cave like a helpless field mouse. He didn't have the time or the patience to go hunt around the reaches of Elona in search of a decent healer to serve within his army, especially while there were far more important matters to attend to.

Such as conquering all of Elona.

Julianna remained still at the same exact spot, shaking in her boots after Joko had loudly shouted at her from across the cave. Her eyes briefly looked back up at see the pair of undead ones glaring hatefully towards her and a breath hitched itself in her throat. His booming voice had echoed loudly throughout the small area, and the order was still ringing in her ears because of how loud it had actually been.

From the brief interaction she had with the undead ruler so far, Julianna could quickly tell he was not a patient being, and that observation was further laced with fear knowing that he could easily extinguish her life at a moment's notice, if he so wished.

She looked down at the felled hero Koss still in laying motionless next to her in the shallow stagnant water and she frowned then, knowing now that her previous wish of him getting back up was never going to happen.

Joko was about to say something more to the pathetic woman when his attention was brought back towards the felled hero after he saw the healer turn her attention down towards the body. His opaque eyes suddenly lit up with newfound ambition as he was remembered back to the despicable plan he had planned for the warrior that had dared to try and assassinate him.

"Ah, yes. Your boastful, Sunspear friend. I nearly forgot about my elaborate plan for his near worthless hide", Joko said, walking back towards the two again.

A couple of his Awakened soldiers had walked forward from the group to follow right behind their illustrious leader in the case that something went awry. Though both undead doubted anything would actually happen given they could see the still-living woman was a quivering mess of emotions right.

Of course, both ended up eating their own words.

The healer quickly realized that Palawa Joko was about to bring Koss back as an Awakened servant, just as he had done to the other men and woman that had been slain in their previous party. Although she had little to no offensive capabilities to fight back with, she couldn't allow herself to stand idly by as the famed warrior was brought back as a mindless, walking zombie.

Without thinking rationally because of her own emotional turmoil, she moved to stand in front of Koss's body defensively, glaring at the tall lich's approaching form as he hadn't even paused in his journey. In fact, all he had done was let out an amused snort, which only fueled her sudden hate towards him.

"How noble of you, _little one_ ", he sneered while raising a curious brow towards the sudden brave actions of the woman that had once been standing there just moments ago shaking with fear.

She had been so absorbed in her own attempted action of glaring daggers at the approaching being, that she hadn't even been aware of the two Awakened soldiers quickly approaching her. Before she could even react, one of the two had quickly grabbed hold of her upper arm and began to physically wrench her away from the scene.

Julianna let out a surprised gasp, before stubbornly trying to twist her arm away from the immovable force pulling her elsewhere. The water splashed up noisily around them as she struggled against her new captor.

"Let go of me!" she yelled out, as she tried her best to wring her captured limb out from the vice-like grip pulling her farther and farther away from the slain warrior's body. It felt as though she was trying to fight against a rotten wall that smelled of death and decay, especially given how much more physical strength the Awakened soldier had against her.

" _Banish my soul to the Mists and back if I don't try and do something_ ", she thought to herself. She had already failed in her duty as a mender, but she wasn't going to uselessly stand by and watch helplessly as Koss was unwillingly brought back as a walking cadaver.

The Awakened soldier wrestled with the ornery woman for a moment before he finally managed to pin her arms downward at her side and kept her standing there against his chest. He sighed loudly in annoyance when she still continued to try and fight against his unyielding hold, and the soldier suddenly found himself wishing that his other Awakened cohort could have been stuck with the bothersome task instead.

Joko meanwhile had walked past the trio right towards his downed target as he ignored the scene going on next to him. He raised his tar stained arm with staff in hand before the weapon shot out a blinding, dark stream of magic towards the lifeless body.

"Now... rise... Koss Dejarin!" Joko bellowed as he watched the boastful warrior come to life once more as an Awakened, loyal minion.

Koss's body rose from the water, his skin taking on the look to that of an Awakened. His eyes looked more hollow, and they had an opaque sheen across the both of them. Areas where his skin could still be seen were now decorated with blistering wounds, as they threatened to expose bone. His stature was more hunched over as he stood there swaying from side to side, taking on the physical appearance to that of a living corpse.

"Let this be a lesson to any Sunspears that would dare try to assassinate me", the necromancer finished, lowering his staff once the deed was accomplished. "You shall condemn the rest of your miserable life within this cave, guarding it against any foes that would dare enter it."

The now, reanimated Koss said nothing more as he realized he had actually been brought back from the cold hands of Grenth himself. He decided that he had nothing else that really could be said in that moment, which had been a first for the mouthy warrior in a very long time. He had clearly lost the battle against the damnable Scourge, Palawa Joko, and he was now eternally damned to live out this new, miserable life within the cave that he had been slain within. He figured it seemed only befitting as he had failed in his duties as a Sunspear.

Joko turned back around as he watched the burdensome healer off to the side still fighting against her current entrapment. It was quite obvious from her current actions of relentless kicking and clawing, that she hadn't been too pleased with the predicament for either her or the obnoxious hero she was with. But as annoying as her childish behavior had been, he had found it entertaining to see that her timid and scared disposition had quickly dissipated into something closer to that of a rude and stubborn Doylak.

The undead ruler also surmised it could have been that the small woman was already within the emotional state of anger, given how the stages of grief went. Then again, he figured it also could have just been her rotten personality suddenly shining through in this moment of weakness.

The Awakened solider behind her suddenly released his hold on her and roughly shoved her closer towards his King.

"You're horrible!", she spat, unable to hide the shakiness as it returned in her voice from nearly being thrown into him. Her nose crinkled, the returning fragrance of decay and rot assaulting her nose again from the close proximity.

Julianna couldn't deny that she was utterly terrified of him after seeing what he was capable of. She made a pathetic attempt to glare at up at him again.

"I live only to serve my reputation as the Scourge of Humanity", Joko boasted, outstretching his arms as a twisted smile finding itself upon his features as he looked down upon his new healer. "Now, I suggest you cease your despicable behavior at once. We have need to return back to my monumental Bone Palace in the Desolation, and we wouldn't want our new healer to retire before we even get there."

The ornery woman said nothing more, watching the retreating back of her despicable new boss as he turned and walked towards the exit of the cave. Finding that she wasn't able to do much of anything else given her incapacitated state, she stuck her tongue out at him when she was sure he wasn't able to see her actions anymore. Of course, her child-like action was rewarded with a swift slap to the back of her head when her captive saw the entire occurrence.

She let out a pained yelp, reaching back to hold onto the tender area of her skull that was now pulsating with a sharp, dulled pain.

"Move", the Awakened Soldier simply ordered, his patience now entirely lost with the woman.

Slowly, she timidly followed after Joko's footsteps, walking into the new life that awaited for her back in the wastes of the Desolation. She looked back one last time to see the standing figure of the Awakened Koss Dejarin before she turned away.

Julianna Fyre had vowed a promise to herself right then and there as she left the confines of cave, slowly following behind footsteps of the Palawa Joko. She decided in that fleeting moment, that she wasn't about to suddenly relinquish her stubborn behavior towards him, or his Awakened forces just because she had to work for them as a healer. She theorized that her headstrong temper was one of the few things left she had to fight with.

Even if he ended up going through the troubling effort of trying to break it from her, she concluded it would be the last thing he would ever allow him to take from her, given he had already taken most of everything already.

As she stepped out into the bay of the outside world again, she looked up towards the thousands of white stars dotting their dark canvas. She thought about The Six, and decided that if they had chosen to bestow upon her that she was going to be the healer the Awakened army, then so be it.

But that didn't mean she was going to like it.

And it most definitely didn't mean that she would be without reason to try and escape from Joko's hold.

"Give it time little one", Palawa Joko sneered at the brooding mortal a few feet behind him. "We have consequences in store for those whom do not willingly serve me."

Julianna said nothing at the words, as a frown formed on her face.

" _Over my dead body..._ " she thought darkly as eyes narrowed towards the being responsible for uprooting her entire life.

xxx

If there was one thing Julianna had learned very quickly after traveling with Palawa Joko and his merry band of the Awakened brigand, it was that the reanimated undead did not fatigue very easily.

Or at all.

She had wanted to complain about how tired she had been feeling from the constant walking, but she knew better from a recent experience than to open her mouth and whine. She trudged on, keeping her mouth a taut firm line as she kept her focus onto just getting to their destination, wherever that actually may be as she was quite unfamiliar with the desert environment of this region. Hunger and dehydration gnawed at her from the inside, but she ignored it and also kept those two things at bay for as long as possible until they became a more pressing problem altogether.

The first part of their trip had been spent on a boat ride back to the main continent of Elona. Julianna had spent the entire time in silence, still mourning over what had happened to Koss as she was witness to seeing him ruthlessly killed and brought back as an Awakened to serve under a ruling thumb. None of the other Awakened, including Joko himself, had made any attempt to talk to her and that had suited her just fine since she had no desire to say anything to them either.

But ever since their departure from the boat into the mainland, the journey now had consisted entirely of trekking through the wake of the Desolation. Which, given the treacherous landscape of the environment, meant it was not an easy place for a mortal to journey through. The group of Awakened soldiers traveled across the landscape in a tight-nit group, with Joko leading his troops near the front.

Julianna nearly tripped over another jagged outcrop, the interrupting causing her to wonder what would happen if she dared to request a stopping point as she walked within the middle of the group. Her mouth scrunched up to the side as she ran the potential scenario through her head.

She remembered back to a particular scene from a few miles back, when one of the Awakened soldiers had brought up how bothersome he had been feeling ever since a sharp sliver of rock had embedded itself into the bottom of his foot. She had quickly recognized the soldier to have been the same one that had held her back from trying to defend Koss's body and had also been the one responsible for smacking the back of her head a little too roughly.

At first, she had thought it was a sweet dose of justice served upon seeing he had acquired a pained limb in their shared journey. But justice or not, she figured no one really deserved the wrath of the angry and temperamental Scourge. Even besides that, her bleeding heart hadn't allowed the resentment for more than a fleeting second.

The comment about the foot injury from the Awakened warrior had quickly been rewarded with Joko simply asking the soldier if he would rather have his entire limb forcefully removed and fed to a Junundu right then and there instead.

And said soldier hadn't uttered a single word since that brief encounter with his undead ruler.

Julianna had been watching the entire scene from afar, as she made a careful mental note to herself about never whining to the ruler unless she also wanted to endure his impatient wrath.

Currently as the group progressed through the desert, Palawa Joko had been very well aware that his new healer was beginning to tire from fatigue. He had noticed her pace had slowed considerably since they had set off from the boat. He craned his neck around to watch her for a brief second, deciding then that he could take the time to bother her about the matter.

He slowed down his own pace from the front of the brigand so that he could walk directly alongside the short woman. The notion that she hadn't asked to stop at any point was incredibly entertaining to him, and he wondered what was going on in that stubborn little brain of hers that was preventing her from actually asking.

"Getting tired already?" he taunted, a gleam in his eyes as he begun conversation for the first time since the cave. He figured that if she wasn't going to ask for the necessary help, then he was just going to have to manipulate her into doing so. After all, he knew that he needed to round out that headstrong behavior of hers at one point or another.

Julianna's head glanced up towards the bothersome person next to her before she quickly turned it away again and kept her eyes focused back on the cracked ground below her while processing the simple question. She could feel the fear already beginning to bubble up inside of her again from the close proximity of the intimidating undead ruler walking so close to her all of a sudden. She greatly disliked that she was obviously still scared of him whenever he got near, even though her hate for his entire being greatly dominated the fear. The healer's sense of smell was also assaulted with the the familiar stench of rotting flesh poorly masked with expensive fragrance again, and she was more than glad the owner wasn't able to see her disgusted face as she continued with her intense examination of the ground.

Her thoughts couldn't help but wander back to the last soldier who had whined to Joko as she mused over his question and decided how to answer it.

"No... not at all...", Julianna lied, even though she was in fact, very tired and on the precipice of exhaustion. But she wasn't about to let him gain the upper hand on their conversation.

Or whine to him. Especially not that.

"Really, not at all?" he echoed back as he turned his head quizzically to the side, the jingling of ornaments following the movement. He continued with his teasing as he took gratification from how uncomfortable the woman looked. "I was going to inquire about a possible rest somewhere soon, given your feeble mortal body. But given you insist, we can keep moving without means of ceasing anytime soon."

She bit her own tongue at that last bit of comment as she was now faced with a dilemma against the despicable bag of bones. She had the choice to either be stubborn and continue going forward with her dwindling status, or brave forward and ask him if they could have a short rest. Which unfortunately would also mean that he would win this game of wicked entertainment that he was quite obviously pulling the strings at.

Palawa Joko had already walked back up towards the front of the brigand again, a sly smirk growing on his weathered looking face though the healer would have been unable to see it.

The conflicted healer meanwhile had watched him return back to the front of the Awakened forces, her dark eyes watching him with clear annoyance on her features as her eyebrows furrowed together tightly.

"Doylak spit..." she quietly cursed under her breath as she realized that inevitably, she was now going to have to ask him up front about a possible rest before she did actually pass out from sheer exhaustion. She figured he was likely already aware of it given he had asked her about it first. She would also have to find a way to ask in such a way without sounding like she was whining or complaining about the matter, given she didn't want to test his limited patience.

She ran a hand through her tousled hair of short blonde curls before looking over to one of the many undead soldiers marching on forward just to the right of her. Julianna closely observed then how the Awakened were mostly just composed as large walls of muscle and power brought back to life through some disgusting magic. She thought back to how easily one of them had been able to pull her away from a scene with little to no effort.

" _Maybe Joko would just order one of the soldiers to haul me around like a useless bag of potatoes for the rest of the trip if I actually couldn't go on anymore_ ", she mused to herself as she watched the soldiers nearby.

She continued with her inner dialogue to herself. " _Or maybe I would be fed to a Junundu instead because of my complaining. Whatever that beast may actually be_."

Julianna shook thoughts away and swallowed bravely as she looked up towards where Joko had returned walking near the front line. She quickly made her way there, slightly having to jog to catch back up with the lich again as she willed herself to find the courage to speak to him once more.

"Look, I'm sorry... but... I do need to stop and rest for a bit", Julianna began between pauses of breath, now feeling more and more unsure about her request as the familiar feel of fear began to bubble up from within the confines of her stomach.

"And why would I do that?" he asked right back, raising a brow though he already knew the answer.

Joko was going to make her request as much of a difficult task as he could. The healer was proving to be much more entertaining than he originally thought, and he was going to drain that enjoyment to the last possible drop until he entirely broke her will. Other than constantly bothering Grand Vizier Utumishi back at the Bone Palace with mundane requests, he hadn't had a decent dose of entertainment for quite some time.

The woman bit the inside of her cheek to prevent herself from retaliating with a snappy reply of her own, looking back down at the ground once more as she struggled to keep a calm composure for herself. She didn't think it was possible to hate this supposed God-King anymore than in that single moment, but he continued to prove her wrong.

A vulture that had been following the Awakened brigand screeched noisily above them.

She briefly wondered to herself what would actually happen if she were to try and cast a smite spell on the walking lich right then and there. She didn't know too many offensive smiting spells, but she knew at least one that could probably put a dent in his face.

After a long pause, she finally spoke up again. "Because I don't think I can physically keep up at this pace for much longer", she replied, trying to hide the fear in her tone as looked upwards to the much taller being next to her. He hadn't even bothered to recognize her presence as he kept his own eyes trained forward and continued his brisk pace.

"So then, you're asking me that I stop all of my troops just to pander to your small, meager little request?" he asked after an uncomfortable pause, a grin stretching across his face as the large ring on his bottom lip moved with the action. An elongated life had proven through past experiences, that he had loved to emotionally manipulate those underneath him. It was something he had gotten quite good at through decades of mastery, and it had helped in more ways than one with his conquering use of deceit and false promises.

The healer paused in her hurried steps for a moment as she had stopped again to absorb his twisted wordplay as he had obviously echoed back what she had tried to ask of him. On top of that, he had also somehow managed to corrupt her words and completely turn them around to make it sound as though she was a villain for asking such a thing.

Julianna suddenly felt like a great inconvenience to him, which was to say, mostly true in her opinion and it made her question her worth again as a living non-Awakened healer for his army. She found herself wondering more and more why a fiend like Joko was even going through the trouble of keeping her around, instead of killing her like he should have back in the cave with Koss.

She grumbled to herself, biting her tongue again and finding herself hating this simple request more and more with each passing second. She shoved her frustrated feelings back down again as she hustled back up towards the undead ruler once more.

"Yes, I'm asking just that...", she mumbled out as she looked back up at him again, struggling to hide the shakiness in her voice. It hadn't helped that she was nearly dwarfed by his intimidating height, as she barely came up to his torso.

The woman visibly flinched when the vulture screeched overhead again.

"What's that? I couldn't quite hear you under your incessant mumbling", Joko continued to tease, cupping a clawed hand around the side of his ear as though he was straining to hear her better. The clattering of the ornaments on his headdress jingled nosily with the movement.

Julianna's eyes narrowed in disbelief at the absurdity of this supposed God-King's blatant egotism.

"Yes! I'm asking that we all stop, just to pander to my meager little request!", she nearly yelled, her voice raising with irritation. She was mentally and physically drained at this point, and she just wanted a short moment of rest for herself before she succumbed to the vulnerability of exhaustion. She wasn't used to this amount of walking, especially in a difficult landscape such as this.

A few of the nearby soldiers had turned their heads in curiosity upon hearing the loud outburst from the quiet woman that had mostly been silent during the entirety trip thus far. They were somewhat shocked to see that the tiny healer had spoken to their ruler in such a disrespectful tone.

Much to said woman's frustration, Joko just hummed to himself in seemingly deep thought as though he was taking the extra time to think over the simple request. He tapped a finger on his chin to further emphasize he needed to think over the answer, even though she knew he really didn't.

The freckled woman's mouth formed a taut line as she watched the despicable lich, while dancing on the line of impatience herself. She could tell that he was obviously choosing to playing the naive fool in this situation, but the healer couldn't help but wonder what would actually happen if her body slumped over from fatigue right then and there in the middle of the gods forsaken desert.

" _I'll probably just be slung around like a bag of potatoes by one of the brutes..._ ", she mulled over again, looking over to one of the staring soldiers as they watched the scene with current interest.

But another part of her also knew that a person like Joko was more than capable of the cruelty to just leave her there to rot on the desert ground and be completely done with her. She knew from her little experiences with him so far, that the Scourge of Vabbi could be incredibly impatient on certain matters and he was aptly prone to showing a complete lack of remorse for any of his actions.

She looked up at the circling vulture above them and shielded her eyes from the glaring sun, grimacing at the sight of the bird overhead. Having her dead body feasted upon by a carrion bird didn't sound very pleasant either.

"I suppose we could arrange for that", Joko finally said after a long pause. He had wasted enough time by throwing the idea around in his head, even though he had already been fixed on an answer ever since she had mumbled the request to him. He had obviously bothered the healer to a great extent, and that had satisfied his thrill of entertainment for now.

"No other inquiries then?" he asked, looking down to the woman still walking alongside him.

" _How many smite spells could I cast upon your rotting head before you struck me down?_ " Julianna thought to herself as she held back a smile of her own.

"No", she replied shakily, trying to bite back the desire to say anything more that would likely cause her a decent amount of trouble for herself.

"Perfect", Joko replied back, grinning towards his obviously bothered healer with a insidious glint in his eyes.

Julianna Fyre came to the conclusion that while her request certainly hadn't resulted in being fed to a hungry Junundu, it was certainly a battle and a half to ask for such a simple request from the esteemed Awakened ruler. She thought that if he pulled this kind of behavior every time she asked of something from him, then she knew for a fact that she was going to end up saying something that she was going to deeply regret.

And if she had any desire to try and escape her current predicament, then she still needed to be very much alive.


	3. Helping Others

**As always, I don't own anything except for my OC.**

 **Update Note: Added a bit more to the beginning of this chapter. Not much else has changed though.**

xxx

 _And if she had any desire to try and escape her current predicament, then she still needed to be very much alive._

xxx

The other Awakened troops ambled about at the temporary campsite, as they were looking quite unsure of what to do with the downtime given the undead didn't usually require rest. Their hardened and leathery bodies were now filled with powerful and questionably dark magic that had allowed them to becoming reanimated cadaver that were stitched together through aged wear and tear. Because most of their circulated blood and muscle was no longer operating to a regular capacity, the rest of the unused space was filled between with the sticky iridescent tar. A few of the soldiers had busied their sudden and unexpected free time by using pocketed whetstones as they worked upon their dulled weapons. Most of the other Awakened decided to spend the time by just quietly talking among each other about recent skirmishes. If not that, then they instead shared a lively discussion of boastful praise towards their esteemed and beloved undead God-King.

Julianna Fyre, the wayward healer of their group, sat resting upon a large boulder just on the farthest edge away from the campsite. She was keeping to herself for the time being as she lounged in the joy of finally resting her aching feet while also ensuring she was distancing herself as far away as possible from the Scourge that was Palawa Joko.

"Well, great goodness Miss Julianna Fyre, I suppose we could arrange for that...", she mocked in an overly exaggerated deep tone as she semi-repeated what the lich had said to her during his prior teasing of her inquiring about a potential stop for rest. With added emphasis, she puffed out her chest and pushed her shoulders back during her taunt.

The healer then sighed, turning her body back around on her perch so she could look back and above the small clusters of Awakened lingering about the area. She was thankful that she had been turned away from any curious prying eyes during her mocking, or else she was quite sure there would have been some form of a immediate consequence to pay. The speculation suddenly brought back the recent memory of when she had been caught for something else and had been smacked upside the head for sticking her tongue out at Joko as a result.

She blinked, continuing to think about how that particular Awakened warrior had also been the same one to have complained to Palawa Joko about a recently acquired foot injury and had only been rewarded with a harsh, verbal threat from the temperamental ruler.

Her dark eyes then moved to scan the temporary campsite as she looked around for the one particular undead she had some sense of familiarity with besides Joko himself. Eventually she seemed to have found the exact armored head she was looking for as she could see that he too, was sitting quite a bit away from the group and was looking to have been inspecting the bottom of his foot.

The healer knew he must have been injured by some sort, and her bleeding heart was once again proving itself to be more troublesome than what it was actually worth.

She stood up from her temporary perch, feeling considerably rested enough now as she carefully slid down the steep side of the boulder and made her way towards the soldier with a new quest to seek out. Her feet were still slightly aching, but it was not nearly as terrible as they had been before.

Meanwhile near the center of the camp, Palawa Joko had paused in his conversation with a high ranking officer when he caught sight of his newly acquired healer moving on her own accord all of a sudden. His sunken eyes narrowed as he kept a close surveillance on what she was doing, as he was still not trusting her actions fully yet.

While he wasn't expecting her to try and turn tail and run, he still wasn't prone to taking any chances and so he continued to diligently watch her as she headed off across the makeshift campsite.

xxx

The Awakened warrior that had made the mistake of complaining about his injury decided to have kept to himself as he inspected the details of his injury.

"Damn this desert...", he muttered, his yellow orbs looking down at the intrusive object jutting out of his clawed heel as he sat upon a petrified stump of wood. Even as an Awakened, he found great annoyance at how such a small obtrusive object in the flesh could cause such an burdensome drawback. And it was even worse off to know that he was an obvious hindrance to the Great Monarch of All, King Palawa Joko.

"You know, you should really see about getting that removed", Julianna suddenly spoke as she had silently been observing the injury from just a few feet away. "It looks infected, and it'll only get worse if it isn't taken out."

Before the Awakened soldier had even a moment to speak, the small mortal woman had knelt down in front of him to get a closer look at his limb. Her eyes were scrutinizing, and she tapped the bottom of her chin with a single finger in thought as she examined his injury more closely.

"Why would that be? Awakened bodies are filled primarily with tar", he commented with a sarcastic tone, crossing his arms and looking down at the healer in disbelief. He wondered why she was even over here, but decided to indulge into her bizarre curiosity of him at least for now. "How could my wound possibly be infected then?"

Julianna was fully within her medical predisposition as she looked down at the small sliver of rock sticking out of the rotting flesh. She may not have been that skilled within the healing arts as a full-fledged Monk, but treating infected wounds was something she had become quite good at. After all, it had been all she had known back when she was living in Lion's Arch, and it had been her career for the duration of the time she had willingly spent there. But while this particular injury wasn't exactly another infected Skale bite, it sure looked awfully similar to one.

Although she certainly still had a strong dislike and hate towards her captors given everything she had just recently been through, the caring side of her couldn't let a patient slip between the cracks as he was obviously bothered by his wound. And it was quite clear that their leader wasn't going to do anything about it either given his very real and verbal threat towards his underling.

The woman's bleeding heart and caring disposition proved to be a shortcoming in a situation such as this, even if she was negatively biased towards the Awakened for what they had done to uproot her entire life.

Back when Julianna had been working at simple clinic down near the harbor of the sea-faring city of Lion's Arch, she was occasionally tasked with working on the unruly pirates that came into the ruckus of a port as well. The maritime group members had been captured in the midst of navy battles and skirmishes, and they had been brought back into the city to eventually be transported to the local jail once she had determined their medical evaluations. And while the novice healer certainly didn't care too much for the smelly and boisterous group of scallywags, she was always still too concerned about their own injuries to really care about just who exactly she was working on.

She also knew all too well from experience that pirates were notorious for letting their wounds fester and get worse before they eventually decided to come to terms with just lobbing off the decaying body part or limb without second thought. And while her current patient wasn't a pirate, or even among the living for that matter, there was a similarity in that both were letting their wounds get worse without the necessary care.

" _And also, they both smell pretty foul_ ", Julianna inwardly thought to herself as she was faced with the smell of a decaying body right in front of her.

She reached forward, using a finger to gently prod around the wound, frowning when she felt how taut the skin had felt. The healer said nothing as the warrior flinched backwards at her sudden intruding touch. The taut skin had been normal given she was touching a walking corpse, but she could feel that the area around the wound had felt slightly warmer.

"Well, you're not exactly a walking tar elemental", the doctor discussed as she continued looking at the protruding piece of rock from the grey mottled skin. She grabbed hold of the small sliver and tried wiggling it around a bit to see if she could coax it out without causing too much discomfort. "You said it yourself that Awakened bodies are primarily filled with tar, but I'm guessing that still leaves some amount of rotting flesh and muscle."

The Awakened soldier just rolled his eyes and shook his head at her comment. Had she not been such an newly important asset to Joko, he would have used said injured foot to bring it down upon her head and crush her meddlesome skull right then and there. It would have been an easy enough task to accomplish, especially given how physically small and weak she looked.

He never asked for her medical advice, and he certainly wasn't expecting her to fulfill her newly appointed duty and actually heal his wound.

The warrior looked back up to see if anyone else was watching the strange show going on right now. But no other Awakened around seemed to care though about what the woman had decided to suddenly busy her time with. However what had been incredibly surprising to the injured soldier though, was that it was currently only his King, Palawa Joko that had been watching the duo intently. His eminence had still been near the center of the camp surrounded by high ranking officers, but it was clear that his leader's attention was still currently trained on the scene from afar.

Since their departure, the soldier had noticed their undead ruler seemed to have taken very little interest within the new healer, which wasn't anything surprising. There had been the short interaction with Joko teasing the woman about her needing a rest, but that had been the only conversation the two had shared since they had left for the journey back the Bone Palace. He attributed it the notion that she was just another body to his growing army, and as such, gave little reason to pay any more attention towards. But given how Joko was now watching their entire interaction with sudden interest, seemed to have completely threw that previous speculation to The Mists.

Julianna meanwhile, was still absorbed within her own little medical world, and she took the sudden silence as the go ahead to work on the injury. She figured that even though the soldier might just actually let her work on his wound, that would also would likely mean he wasn't going to be very happy about it given his harsh and aggressive disposition to towards her already. But that suited her just fine as she wasn't there to make friends with any of the Awakened.

Or Joko. Especially not Palawa Joko.

"If there's flesh, then there's still some blood. Even though it is probably coagulated blood given your lack of a pumping heart. But it still means your body is still trying to fight off the unwanted object, hence your infection", Julianna professionally expressed. "I'm going to pull this thing out now, alright?"

The Awakened Soldier had been so absorbed within his own speculating thoughts about his ruler's interest to the woman, that he didn't even get the chance to protest against that last bit of comment before the bothersome little insect moved with sudden haste. He felt her thumb and forefinger grab hold of the rock before she pulled the obtrusive object out with fleeting expertise.

He let out a hiss of pain between clenched teeth, reaching down to grab his foot as he held himself back from attacking the woman right then and there.

" _What naive nerve she has_!", he thought darkly to himself, glaring at her in spite of the fact that his injury had been taken care of.

She held up the shard of rock like a proud trophy, bringing it back down to examine it more closely. A grimace found its way to her face when she saw not only spots of infected looking pus staining the object, but the dark tar that had been explained as well, which should have been expected given what her patient had already told her.

Her nose wrinkled in disgust before she deposited the small rock on the ground next to her, making sure to keep it in a place easily seen so it wouldn't be stepped on again. There would be a dull irony if either of them stepped on it, especially if one of the two stepped on it for a second time.

"I didn't ask you for your help", the soldier spat, standing back up to his full height again as he towered over the hunched over human. He lifted his foot to look at where the rock had previously been, seeing the wound already beginning to close up with the tar that composed most of his inner body.

Julianna's head snapped upward as she looked back up at her patient in disbelief, her own freckled face mirroring that of annoyance as her forehead creased and her nose crinkled.

"Well, Skale toes... your foot is better now, isn't it?" she asked with a dull tone, frowning at the intimidating looking figure in front of her. She couldn't fathom why someone was so mad at her when all she had done was help an injury. Why, even the nastiest of pirates back in Lion's Arch had been somewhat appreciative after she had worked on their disgusting looking wounds.

She then thought about her appointed position within the Awakened forces.

" _Is this not what was expected of me when I unwillingly joined this awful, walking-cadaver army?_ " she thought grimly to herself.

The Awakened Solider raised a hand with the notion that he was going to strike the back of her head for a second time that day, but he immediately paused in the action when he felt a burning stare on him. His eyes darted back towards exactly where he knew the glare was coming from, and he halted his hand when he saw Joko now crossing a pair gilded arms across his chest and watching the scene more intently than ever.

His esteemed leader just slightly shook his head, giving the clear indication that the annoying and bothersome healer was to be left unharmed.

The soldier let out a frustrated growl, dropping his raised arm before quickly grabbing his sword he had left propped up on a nearby rock as he quickly began walking away from the scene. He needed to move somewhere far away from the doctor lest his patience snap and he did something rash that he would live to regret.

The confused-looking medic still sat on the ground as the realization hit her just then. She quickly came to the conclusion that for some unknown reason, she had just barely been spared the the action of having her head pulverized into an unrecognizable mass of red sludge. Her eyes blinked rapidly, breaking herself from her standstill as she turned to see the retreating back of her patient fleeing the area.

Quickly reverting back to her immature demeanor again, she stuck her tongue out at the grumpy, unappreciative Awakened before turning back around in search of the rock fragment she had just pulled out.

Julianna Fyre had dealt with unruly patients before, especially given she worked upon pirates, but that aggressive of one had certainly been a first.

Once she found the object of her quest, her eyes looked down at the small sliver of tar infested rock she had successfully extracted. She sighed, knowing that this newly appointed position of hers was going to be an entirely new territory of work for her, and she wasn't even sure she was going to be capable of it. The stubborn woman also wondered if the other Awakened were going to exhibit the same self-control to hold themselves back from thoughtlessly exterminating her when similar situations came to. Because if these types of encounters were going to be commonplace in dealing with the Awakened's injuries, then this could prove to be a fatal profession for her.

She exhaled loudly through her nose and fully stood back up, her face composed with another reason to worry as she thought about the upcoming, unknown future and what it was going to hold for her.

Palawa Joko meanwhile was still rooted to the same place as he had watched the entire scene from afar with an unreadable expression upon his face. Upon seeing the predictable and immature response from the healer, he finally moved from his frozen standstill as he shook his head in disbelief from her crude actions.

Julianna Fyre was continuing to prove herself as entertaining worth to him, even as unsophisticated as she had behaved. However, in that small moment, her skills as a mender had somewhat shined, and Joko had taken close observation of that at least.

But then again, this was still only the very beginning of her servitude.


	4. The Bone Palace

**Again, I don't own anything except for my OC.**

 _ **Update: Fixed some things in this chapter. Went back to make some details make more sense in later chapters.**_

xxx

 _Julianna Fyre was continuing to prove herself as entertaining worth to him, even as unsophisticated as she had behaved. However, in that small moment, her skills as a mender had somewhat shined, and Joko had taken close observation of that at least._

 _But then again, this was still only the very beginning of her servitude._

xxx

It had taken the rest of the day for the powerful lich, Palawa Joko and his brigand of Awakened Soldiers to return back to the familiarity of the Bone Palace once more. The rest of the journey hadn't resulted in anything much else exciting, and Julianna had surprisingly remained silent for the remainder of the trip.

From inside the palace's inner most walls, Grand Vizier Utumishi looked up from his book as dark eyes narrowed dangerously thin from behind the many pages of thick text. The short, mortal man was sitting upon his rightfully appointed chair, which of course was situated right next to his King's own much more grandiose looking throne right in the middle. The middle aged looking person let out a relieved sigh upon seeing the familiar outline of Palawa Joko himself stepping through the confines of the illustrious Bone Palace once again.

As the head of the civil governance, Utumishi was left in charge of matters whenever Joko had important matters to attend to elsewhere outside of the fortress. And while the incredibly short man enjoyed the sudden grant of power bestowed to his title whenever his leader left on some merry errand, he found it quite tiring when he was constantly asked about mundane things from other underlings that he had no business in answering. All in all, he was grateful to see that his leader had finally returned after the long voyage, as it meant he could go back to his own dutiful and personal fulfilling tasks once more.

The mortal-looking man closed his book and stood up from the piece of furniture that was decorated with bones and other questionable material. He blinked one times probably too many when he caught sight of the bizarre anomaly of a woman trailing some ways behind his esteemed ruler. Utumishi noted that upon seeing another mortal that hadn't been turned Awakened yet, had meant it was quite the interesting sight to behold in that moment. Even more so because she was obviously able to freely step through the fortified walls without quickly being reduced to nothing but a dark stain on the floor.

The head of civil governance took note of her appearance as she slowly followed behind Joko's footsteps with obvious hesitance and caution. He could see she was quite short in height given she was dwarfed by the walking Awakened next to her. A bob of curly blonde hair was sitting atop her head, which bobbed lightly up and down as she progressed further into the palace. Utumishi could see that her skin was fairly pale against the dark contrast of the Desolation, even though most of the loose fitting clothes she wore had conservatively covered her up. Conclusively from all that, he was easily able to distinguish that she definitely looked to be from somewhere other than Elona, and he idly wondered just where on Tyria that Joko had come upon the woman.

Not only that, but to what purpose she was going to be serving within his kingdom.

Utumishi suddenly felt the collar of his shirt grow hot as he wondered if his beloved and most magnificent King had come forth with a new replacement for him already. He had assumed that he had been in nothing but good favor with the under ruler so far, even as he had been in this particular position for quite some number of years.

After hearing about what had happened to the last person in his current job, he felt his nerves bound themselves together in a tight knot. He had no issue in admitting he was a bit nosy, since it had resulted in him hearing many rumors about what had happened to the last person in his position to have tested Joko's patience just one too many times. It was discussed quite heavily through whispers and closed doors that said person now had their bones decorating various parts of the room.

As Utumishi stood there brooding about the possible loss of a job, the rest of the Awakened force that had been trailing behind their master had spread out to different locations within the inner or outer walls of the Palace. Most soldiers left to go practice sparring with one another while a few others went off elsewhere to go socialize as they discussed what had transpired back in Issnur Isles and also talked about the failed assassination attempt that had been made upon their benevolent ruler.

Julianna continued walking forward, feeling the fear gnawing at her again as she stepped through the walls of the intimidating looking structure. Although she had a slight prediction in her mind of what the palace was going to look like given its name, it couldn't have prepared her enough as its grim appearance had far surpassed her supposed expectation. Her eyes looked all around the large open room, finding herself feeling more and more ill as she observed the many different sizes and shapes of bones fortifying the palace.

As someone within the medical field, she was easily able to identify a small number of few human bones and she wondered just how recently deceased their owners had been. She also wondered if there was any parts of the palace that weren't actually made from bone.

The horror struck woman flinched when something suddenly cracked under her boot, and she was brought back to the present from her brooding thoughts. She quickly lifted her foot up, her eyes looking down to see what she had stepped on. The dark colored pair widened considerably when they were met with the scene of what must have been the two remaining pieces of a human fibula on the floor.

Julianna stood there not moving as her upper eyelids were pulled upwards in shock. She looked around the span of the floor only to realize that most of the ground was also decorated with various bone fragments and pieces. The tepid-looking woman could feel herself looking more and more pale with each passing second as she looked upon the horrors of this so-called Kingdom.

" _This isn't a palace_ ", she thought to herself. " _It's a nightmare..._ "

The wayward healer could feel her lungs tighten from within the confines of her rib cage, and she found it felt very difficult to breath again. However this time, it wasn't due to from the fatigue or the constant sulfurous smell that lingered in the area.

Grand Vizier Utumishi had since gained control of his own whirlwind of emotions and was now intently watching the approaching woman with a highly judgmental look plastered on his face. His eyes narrowed again as they burned with skepticism towards his potential replacement, watching as this new person was now trying to carefully step over every single piece of bone that littered the floor after she had paused in her journey for a hesitant minute.

" _There is no way in Vabbi that this blundering idiot could have possibly been my replacement_ ", Utumishi thought to himself, sighing loudly through his nose in contentment.

"Ah, so fulfilling to be back within my oh-so, wonderful Bone Palace once again!", Joko beamed as he strode across the room to seat himself in his over sized throne situated right in the middle between the two smaller ones. While there was still plenty work to be had in the continuation of conquering Elona, he decided that rest was needed before he barged into a larger more elaborate plan in his quest for total dominance.

"You know, _little one_ ", the undead ruler began after seating himself. He laced his sharp, armored digits together underneath his long chin. He made a motion to address the woman who had stopped to stand just before the chairs. "I never did inquire about your name, even after our shared trip together. So please, do share that trivial piece of information with us."

Julianna was not quick in her answer to such a simple question, as she mulled the idea of it around in her head. It felt bizarre for her to have this seemingly casual conversation with the one responsible for changing her life so dramatically. It also didn't help that she was still utterly terrified of the lich given his past actions she had been a firsthand witness towards.

"Julianna Fyre", she answered after a long uncomfortable silence. She made a second of direct eye contract with Joko before quickly turning away from the less than friendly smile that had been on his face. The tightening feeling within her chest from before seemed to have increased, and she struggled to control her breathing in fear she would pass out on the bone-ridden floor below her.

Joko was about to indulge into another verbal game of cat and mouse, but was interrupted by his head of Civil Governance who apparently had questions of his own that needed to be answered by the new healer. The rotting fingers underneath his chin coiled together before they relaxed again, deciding to allow the indulgence for now.

"I'm guessing you aren't from Elona then?" Utumishi suddenly intervened, raising a sharp, skeptical brow towards the foreigner. He watched her eyes dart over to him in surprise, as though she had just realized there had been another still living mortal in the room with her.

The woman looked over at the man sitting in a smaller next to Palawa Joko, her face riddled with confusion upon seeing another non-Awakened person living within the confines of the Bone Palace. His random question seemed to have helped distract her a bit, as she could feel the tightness within her rib cage already begin to ebb away.

"No, I'm not from Elona", she answered slowly, the bewilderment still worn on her freckled face as she faced him. "I had been living in Lion's Arch the past few years within a small clinic located in the outskirts of the city. I mostly just worked on infected Skale bites and other small wounds."

"And so you left such a beautiful city to willingly come reside within the confines Bone Palace instead?" Utumishi asked, sarcasm laced within his voice as the corners of his mouth turned upward. He still had no idea what purpose this woman served, but he knew now at least that Joko must have had some important part into the reasoning behind why she was currently here.

"Obviously not", Julianna shot back, her stubborn attitude rearing back up as she crossed her arms across her chest. Her dark eyes narrowed at the light blue pair glinting back towards her in an expression of mockery.

"Then how did your near worthless hide find its way to Elona?" Utumishi retorted right back without hesitation, his voice devoid of any emotion. He could hear his ruler chuckle under his breath next to him though his ruler remained silent through their conversation.

Julianna could feel her face grow warm with anger, but she kept it bottled down alongside the other retained emotions and continued. "After the startling events that had occurred in Elona not too long ago, there was an immediate call for aid to anyone that was willing and able."

The woman thought back to when she had received the letter asking for help, as it had been another prime example of her bleeding heart for others. And even another example again when Lonai and Koss had come forward asking if she would accompany her party on an important mission.

"All of that Nightfall nonsense", Joko interjected, finally speaking up again as he filled in the gap for what the woman mentioned. He could see the woman flinch again when he loudly spoke, as though it had brought her back out of her stubborn attitude towards Utumishi.

The Scourge dismissively waved an armored hand while talking as though the event was but a mere handicap to the world. Which was to say for him, mostly true. However if it hadn't been for the well-to-do hero types that had foolishly released him from his tomb, he would still be sealed away because of the damnable Order of Whispers that had put him there in the first place.

"Ah, yes. That bad business with Abaddon was a rather... tumultuous time", Utumishi recalled thinking back the semi-recent events himself, as he rubbed his chin. His ruler had recited to him many times before whilst on the topic of past history, that Joko himself had played a very important role in making sure the heroes were able to safely venture across the sulfurous wastes in their quest to slay Varesh Ossa and eliminate the sixth fallen god, Abaddon.

The civil adviser turned towards Joko, leaning forward in his seat as he propped his elbows above his knees. "I don't suppose you would mind me asking then, what purpose could a novice healer from Lion's Arch possibly serve to you, my eminence? Surely you could have found a better healer than one who only knows how to mend minor Skale bite wounds."

Joko just rolled his eyes, drumming the fingers of his unoccupied hand against the armrest of his throne. He should have expected as much from a nosy little man such as Utumushi who was constantly in the business of everyone and anyone within Elona. It was partially due to his job, given he likely needed to know such trivial information in order to succeed, but it didn't mean that Joko liked it anymore than he should have.

"She's a semi-decent healer and as such, she'll continue to live out that job as a mender to my growing Awakened forces", he continued, now sounding bored with the conversation as he looked back to where his new healer that was still awkwardly standing in front of them. "As we continue to usurp and destroy the meddlesome factions that would dare oppose my benevolence, my armies will surely suffer injuries that will need to be treated."

"Of course, but I still don't understand why-" Utumishi had tried to continue but was quickly interrupted.

"You wouldn't be challenging my authority, would you?" Joko asked, his tone of voice sounding like an incredibly dangerous one that was threatening to break at a moment's notice. "Perhaps I should strike you down for your impudence Utumishi. Or string you from the ceiling with your lower intestines as a new chandelier for my throne room?"

It was now the tiny man's turn to feel the color drain from his face as beads of sweat begin to form on his dark temples upon hearing the threat. "N-never, my King. Pardon my insolence Joko the Wise, Joko the Mighty, Joko the-"

"Enough of that", the lich practically spat, slamming his clenched fist down upon the arm of his throne as he was quite tired of the bumbling attempts of praise coming forth from the man next to him. He had obviously terrified his underling from his very real threat, and that was all that was needed to put the worm of a man back into place again.

Julianna had visibly flinched when Joko had brought down his armored hand down upon the chair. She could have sworn she had heard fragments of the bone crack underneath the force, as the feeling of fear that had slowly ebbed away quickly came back into full force back again. She had now personally witnessed two encounters of just how intimidating Palawa Joko could be towards his servants if they got out of line or said the wrong thing at the wrong time. And she had no doubt that his threats were still very real if he chose to actually enact upon them.

The woman looked down to the ground again, feeling her skin prickle and goose bump when two empty eye holes from a human skull looked back up at her. She idly wondered what had happened to that poor soul.

Utuimishi nervously fixed the collar of his shirt after being on the receiving end from a verbal outburst from Joko. He had been around long enough in his position to know when buttons should and shouldn't be pressed, especially given the short fuse of impatience from his ruler. But he hadn't been satisfied with the answer he had been given, especially when knowing there were far better healers that Joko could have acquired in place of a stubborn lout like Julianna instead.

The head of Civil Governance felt either incredibly brave, or incredibly stupid to move forward and ask another question.

"Why not turned her into an Awakened then?" Utumishi ventured instead, trying to veer the conversation elsewhere.

"I'm beginning to wonder why I didn't turn you into an Awakened, Utumushi", Joko hastily snapped back, having quite enough of the intrusive questions from his adviser. "Because much like you, I find her to be more useful when she is still among the forces of the living. Although right now, I'm questioning your own fragile morality."

The adviser could feel a weight of lead drop into his stomach and he cleared his throat before standing up and clapping his hands together. He decided very quickly that he needed to put himself very far away from his ruler given he still valued his life. The man quickly conformed a hasty plan together in just mere seconds.

"W-well then, given she hasn't... been turned into an Awakened", Utumishi stuttered as he crossed the distance over to where his quarry was standing. He looped an arm around the Julianna's shoulders, ignoring the burning glare still coming from Joko. "We'll need to get you an enchanted ring to go with your new occupation. Unfortunately for us living folks, the Bone Palace can expel those that are not Awakened, if the need ever arises."

"Right then...", Julianna quietly hummed to herself, not sure what else to say and not liking the sudden physical contact from the man. He reeked of cheap cologne and sulfur, which wasn't a great combination.

" _I think I would rather deal with Joko's own personal, rotting fragrance compared to Utumishi's revolting smell_ ", she thought to herself, grimacing as the smell of sulfur burned the inside of her nose.

"Anyway, the enchanted ring you'll need is over in my personal quarters", he continued, keeping eye contact away from his leader. He looked sideways at the woman underneath his arm instead. "Because there obviously aren't any rooms here in the main palace, there is a location down in Bitumen Reserve that holds living spaces for those that need it."

"I didn't actually think you could articulate a thoughtful plan after those unnecessary comments of yours", Joko teased in a dark tone, speaking up again as eyes burned holes into the head of his meddlesome underling. The lich had quite enough of the man after his temper had been ignited, especially given it had been due to another's incompetence.

Joko continued."You'll stay away for a while unless you want to join the many others that already decorate my inner sanctum of my Palace. Perhaps we could make some additions to my throne."

The threat was well received as Utumishi nodded hastily before he quickly grabbed hold of Julianna's upper arm and pulled her towards the exit of the large room. He easily came to the conclusion that he didn't want to spend any more time around his ruler, and as such, the politician made no effort to lightly step around the discarded bones as they shattered noisily underneath his feet.

Julianna had gone along willingly with slimy adviser of a man, deciding not to fight against her new captor as she had before with the Awakened brutes back in the cave. If she was getting away from Palawa Joko for an unknown period of time, then she accepted the notion with welcoming arms. She nearly tripped a few times from still trying to step lightly around the fallen bones scattered around her feet.

The woman dared a look back toward's The Scourge's diminishing seated figure as she could feel his eyes intently watching her retreating form. She craned her neck uncomfortably around to watch him, lines gathering between her eyebrows when she could see the corners of his mouth turned upwards on his undead face.

In retaliation for his bothersome smirk, Julianna made sure to stick her tongue out towards the one monster responsible for everything terrible that had happened to her within the fleeting days. She had felt quite bold for doing such a foolish thing, even though it was incredibly childish and immature. The last time she had made such a gesture to him was when his back had been turned towards her and he hadn't even seen it.

The healer figured it would have been the final snapping point for him to leap off his throne and turn both her and Utumishi into forgotten stains on the floor of the Bone Palace.

However, what Palawa Joko choose to do instead caused the wayward healer to feel chilled right down to the bone.

His mouth just turned further upward into a wicked grin.

Utumishi roughly pulled on her arm when he realized the woman he was physically dragging away wasn't even looking forward and had considerably slowed down to an almost near standstill.

"Let us quicken our pace, shall we?", the short man hissed, continuing to pull the stubborn woman along as he went forth in his journey to Bitumen Reserve.


	5. Living Arrangements

**Again, I don't own anything except for my OC.**

 **Update: Fixed some things in this chapter.**

xxx

 _However what Palawa Joko choose to do instead caused Julianna to feel chilled right down to the bone._

 _His mouth just turned further upward into a wicked grin._

xxx

Upon arrival to Bitumen Reserve which had been located right at the back of the bone-laden fortress, Julianna and Utumishi were traversing down a dimly lit spiral staircase encompassed by walls of sticky tar. The entire area was covered in thick amounts of the substance that shone with slight iridescence whenever the flicks of torch light danced across it. There were also a number of Awakened troops that loitered around on the way, though not even a single soul had even bothered to address the two mortals that had walked past them in their quickened haste.

The air within the small cave-like area was stifling, although of course it mattered little to the undead that walked throughout it since it did no harm to their cadaver-like bodies.

At the bottom of the staircase, Julianna let out a squeak of surprise when she nearly ran into the macabre statue of centaur bones waiting for them at the end of the short hallway. Utumishi had said nothing, rolling his eyes and shaking his balding head at the woman's action while making some comment under his breath pertaining to the lines of her obvious lack of complacency to most things.

Towards the right of the grotesque piece of artwork, was a hidden door embedded into the tar-ridden wall of the wooden boardwalk ridden cave. Utumishi relinquished a special key hidden within the confines of his robes and he quickly unlocked the door, waiting to the side for his companion to step through before he followed suit. The duo then walked into a long hallway that was adorned with lines of doors on each side, the passage of which ending with a pair of two gilded and intricate looking doors at the very end.

It was now currently that the two were situated within Utumishi's personal quarters as he scavenged around looking for the enchanted ring that he had obviously misplaced. Though the adviser figured his guest was still none the wiser about his current lack of organizational skills given she seemed to be complacent with just looking around at everything. He took a mental note of the random quip she often did whenever she stepped into a new location.

Julianna stood silently within the small room, closely observing all of the various memorabilia that dotted the room's every surface. It was cramped, but decorated with high end looking furniture given the type of fabric and brightly stained dyes. Fine-looking rugs littered the floor, leaving little room to show the real rock flooring of the surface hidden just below. Tapestries of varying sizes hung all around the walls, covering up the dark colors of the stone and making the room appear much larger than it probably was. Her nostrils stung at the smell of sharp incense burning somewhere within the room and she looked around, trying to find the source of it.

Overall, everything in the space looked to be more expensive than anything she could have ever afforded. She wondered exactly where such extravagant looking goods had been imported from, as the room looked near opposite compared to what the bleak and dark colors of the Desolation displayed in the world just outside. It certainly was the last thing she had expected to see when walking down into the tar infested hole situated behind the Bone Palace.

Utumishi had said very little to the woman since they had left the gates, as he really had nothing more he felt like sharing with her. He had formally conferred his name and title to her, but that had been it. And it seemed she must have felt the same, for she hardly spoke to him as well unless it was to make small comment about something strange or grotesque she noticed along the way. He walked over to a small chest situated at the end of his bed and began to rummage through it.

The fluffy haired woman remained standing there awkwardly like she had back in the throne room, her focus lost on trying to locate the source of the incense and now instead moving towards the expensive looking items covering the various shelves on the wall. Her brown eyes scanned the shelves, stopping when they reached a small gem encrusted dagger that was sitting upon a small stand. The end of the hilt had been decorated with a stylized sun, reminding her much of the Sunspear logo.

The sight of the weapon made the recent memories of Koss and his horrific demise come flooding forward again. She thought about what the once-proud Sunspear must have been doing at this very moment in time after being damned to eternity back inside the same cave that Palawa Joko had killed him within. A pang of guilt tugged at her heartstrings and she wondered if she would ever get the chance to see the man again.

Her darkening thoughts were cut short when she heard Utumishi make a small noise of accomplishment, sounding as though he had been victorious in his current scavenger hunt. He fully stood back up and turned back around to face her, holding out his open hand as a small object was now sitting in the middle of his palm.

Julianna's brows scrunched together, pushing the thoughts away of Koss and the other slain Sunspear heroes as she observed the offered ring being displayed towards her.

Utumishi held it out in an expecting manner, waiting for the pest of a healer to take the ring from him. He rolled his eyes for what must have been the umpteenth time that evening, suddenly realizing what childish thoughts must have been going through her mind and why it was taking so long for her to accept the damned thing. Especially after she had already been told what their reasoning had been for needing to come down here in the first place.

"I'm not asking for your hand in proposal you nitwit", he chided, picking up the ring between his forefinger and thumb as he held it up for her to see. "You'll have to wear this if you want to safely stay within confines of the Bone Palace."

 _"Who said anything about 'wanting' to stay there?"_ she thought to herself, not trusting Utumishi at all. For all she knew, the ring could have some magical properties that would cause her serious irreversible changes.

"And just why is that again?" she asked instead, raising a brow as she examined the piece of jewelry being held up for her. The ring was gold, embroidered with a turquoise scarab beetle sitting atop the setting. It was designed with black, whimsical lines that were embedded within the gold coloring, making the blue-green color of the beetle stand out even more boldly.

Overall, it looked to fit the overall theme of Joko's own personal attire. Other than the dark iridescence coloring of tar that decorated most of his outfit and arms, there was still a lot of gold and accents of turquoise that he wore to display his proclaimed nobility. It had certainly matched the theme of his undead and ego maniacal self-centered ruling persona.

"Because like I already said earlier, had you actually been listening. The Bone Palace has the power to expel the living", Utumishi answered, sounding bored with their conversation as he continued holding the ring outward. "Which unfortunately for me, now includes your near worthless hide as well."

Julianna ignored the harsh comment, feeling her face grow flush with anger again from the adviser's rude words towards her. She loudly expelled air through her nose before stubbornly reaching out to quickly snatch the enchanted ring from the man's stubby fingers.

Utumishi crossed his arms and said nothing as he watched her cautiously examine the ring as though it was going to explode in her grasp. He was finding himself to be and more and more unimpressed with the small woman the longer he was forced to spend more time with her. But after what had transpired back in the Bone Palace when he had stepped over the line and questioned why his leader would even bother himself with such a helpless louse, he decided he wasn't going to bother Joko with that question again for quite some time.

But that didn't mean it was going to stop him from digging around to find out why his powerful and undead King decided to keep her around for the time being.

"You know, I think the last person to have worn that ring is now being used to decorate my chair in the throne room", Utumishi lied through a smile, breaking the silence between the two and smirking as he watched the woman's expression turn to that of disgust and horror. She nearly dropped the ring to the floor when she heard the words leave his mouth.

"Ah, but that was just a crude joke for the ruffled up little healer", he continued, chuckling mostly to himself, the corners of his eyes crinkling in amusement.

"Very funny...", Julianna sarcastically shot back as she stuck her tongue out towards the man, not at all amused at the adviser's poor taste in humor. She wiped the small piece of jewelry off on her pant leg just in case the leech of a man was actually lying to her about the ring's past owner.

She continued. "Does it matter what finger it's worn on?" she asked mostly to herself as she placed the ring on the middle finger of her left hand before Utumishi could even have the chance to answer. She twisted her hand around to examine the new piece of decoration adorning her finger. It had reminded her of the pirates she had worked upon back in Lion's Arch, as they often had dozens of quite obviously stolen jewelry adorning their grimy stained hands.

"Unless you'd like to place it on your ring finger and become betrothed to our wonderful leader, then no, it doesn't matter", Utumishi replied, his tone now sounding dry and his face returning to that of an impassive one. He shook his head, rolling his light blue eyes once more.

Julianna's face scrunched up with sheer distaste upon hearing the bold suggestion coming from the older man across from her. The sheer thought of being married to someone as terrible as Joko made her stomach lurch.

"Well then, I suppose I'll be showing you to where your new living quarters will be", he continued, changing the topic and stepping out of the room as he waited at the door for the woman to follow suit.

xxx

The two walked into the abandoned room right across the hallway, taking a short pause as they both looked around to examine the contents inside. Compared to Utumishi's own rich looking space, this room resembled something to that much closer of the world just a floor above them. Cobwebs hung in every corner, and the sparse furniture looked to be barely hanging on together from its worn age. The walls were dark, making the space seem even smaller and more confining due to the lack of color.

The room was fitted with a small single bed in one corner, adorned with a small wooden nightstand on the side of it. At the end of the bed, sat an over sized rotten-looking chest riddled with a few objects sitting atop it. The other corner was decorated with a lone stool and a wooden bucket. There was also a small notch in the wall with an unlit torch, which likely was needed to be brought back to life considering the only current light source was coming from the spilled in glow from the outside hallway.

Julianna tried her best to remain optimistic. She figured that at least this new bed frame had been better than the stiff cot she was used to sleeping on back in Lion's Arch.

Then again, that was before she had been forced to become the medic to the undead army of a powerful yet intricately dressed cadaver.

Utumishi hummed to himself in thought. "You know, back in my room I really had been joking about that ring belonging to someone recently deceased", Utumishi commented, running a hand across his balding scalp as he thought back to his joke. "But I do think the owner of this room actually had been subject to our ruler's wrath at one point. Obviously he never came back after that unfortunate mishap."

The healer said nothing more, her face seeming to be stay stuck in a permanent face of disgust as she absorbed all of the information being shared with her. Perhaps remaining optimistic about her situation was going to prove more difficult than she originally thought. Especially considering she would now be sharing a room with that of a dead person.

Julianna Fyre wasn't sure her grim situation could actually get any worse at this point.

She thought back to Joko's terrible grin upon leaving the Bone Palace.

 _"Well, perhaps not"_ , she thought. _"At least I'm still far away from the Scourge himself at least for the time being."_

The beady eyed adviser continued, pulling at his long goatee and lost in his own thoughts as his eyes narrowed while he recalled back to lost past memories. "He wasn't killed in this room though, that much I can remember", he said, looking around the small, sad-looking space. He walked towards the nightstand, pulling a finger across the top of it to reveal a fine layer of dust coating the digit.

 _"How fitting for the little louse to live in a place such as this",_ he thought to himself, grinning wickedly.

Utumishi then clicked his tongue and brushed the dust coated finger off on his pant leg. "We have so many that come and go around here, it becomes incredibly difficult to keep track. We can only hope our magnificent King keeps you around longer than the last person that was living in here then."

Julianna decided to ignore that last bit of biting sarcasm heard within the man's comment. "What about his personal belongings that are still here?" she asked instead, taking verbal note of the few objects that had been left behind and pointing towards them. There were just a few pieces of abandoned clothing and some heavily armored boots sitting upon a chest.

A yawn suddenly escaped her mouth after pointing at the forgotten objects, the feeling of exhaustion beginning to creep up on her all at once. The fact that there was a bed sitting about five feet away from her was probably reminding her brain that she had been without sleep for more than over a day now. Her body was finally beginning to protest from the physical and emotional exertion she had been put through. Dark circles decorated the undersides of her eyes, and she rubbed her eyelids in an attempt to chase away the lethargy.

"What of them?" the adviser asked back as he moved back towards the doorway, not sure why the woman was asking about the sparse junk still lying about. "The previous occupant is no longer around either as a mortal or as an Awakened, so he doesn't have need of them anymore. Do with them what you wish."

Utumishi had enough of catering around to the new healer, and she had unwillingly helped fulfill his own personal quest to get away from the impatient wrath of Palawa Joko for the time being anyway.

He cleared his throat. "I'll be taking my leave then. I'm not heading back to the Bone Palace quite yet, but I'll be in my room across the way", he said, watching the woman struggle to stay awake now as she swayed from side to side and swiped at her eyes.

The adviser continued, nodding his head back towards the door. "Oh, and the two large double doors at the end of the hallway belong to our benevolent King Joko, in case you wanted to know."

Julianna just nodded towards the other still-living human and thanked him for his help, even though she was finding it more and more difficult to get along with the man given his constant rude and demeaning disposition towards her. The idea of escaping this nightmare had briefly ran through her mind, but she knew that she currently wasn't capable of planning anything in her fatigued state right now. Once she had slept and possibly had some food in her stomach, then maybe she could begin to create some means of a feasible escape.

Grand Vizier Utumishi just brushed off the woman's thanks as though it had been nothing but a bother, leaving the room and closing the door behind him as he left the burdensome woman alone in the dark.

The woman tiredly glared at the closed doors with all her might, hoping that perhaps with enough willpower, it could bore holes through the wood to reach the retreating form of the despicable man and melt him into the floor below his feet. She wondered if the reason for his foul behavior towards her was because a Devourer had crawled into his pant leg and resided there permanently.

She sighed loudly after glaring for a moment more, surrendering her childish idea as she began to remove her boots before throwing the pair into random locations and letting them stay wherever they landed. She then took off the outer layer of her robes and threw them as well, leaving her in a form fitting tank and undergarments before she crawled into the dusty bed.

Once settled in, she shook the top blanket, sneezing as a large cloud of dust rose above from its previous resting place. Her nose twisted, the musty smell of dust bunnies assaulting her nose.

"I'm starting to think that being Junundu food maybe doesn't sound too bad anymore...", she commented out loud to herself towards the craggy outcrop of the ceiling above.

She turned around to lay on her side, facing the wall instead. Her left thumb ghosted around the ring still sitting on her middle finger. Sleep overtook her alarmingly fast, as the last thoughts she had were of the terrible grin Joko had on his face back at the Bone Palace.


	6. Nightmares

**Author's Note:** last chapter was small and devoid of any joko shenanigans. i promise this chapter makes up for it. ;)

 **Update:** Fixed a lotta' stuff in this chapter. Writing quality, why can't you be consistent?

xxx

 _Lonai crawled across the ground, her fingertips and nails cracked and bleeding from trying to crawl away from the terrible being that had brought imminent death upon their party._

 _"P-please, by The Six gods, spare us", the short haired pleaded out loud, tears threatening to fall at the corners of her eyes._

 _Palawa Joko stood only a few feet away, four corpses already laid out near his feet as he waited to bring them back so they could serve eternally within his Awakened army._

 _Julianna Fyre and Koss had been able to escape some ways away, but both had stopped to look back helplessly as the last remaining member of their squad was left at the mercy of the terrible lich they had tried, and failed to kill. The wayward healer hadn't been able to watch the scene, and she turned away and covered her ears to try and block out the horrible sounds that were about to get exponentially worse._

 _Koss remained as motionless as a statue next to her, as the warrior had been close friends with Lonai._

 _The abomination of a lich looked down at the writhing woman, watching as she made a feeble attempt to try and crawl away from him. He tilted his head curiously to the side, an unsettling smile growing across his face._

 _"The Six gods?" he teased, voice laced with a deadly concoction of sarcasm and venom. "The only god here is me, and you'll be brought back to serve as my own personal commander."_

 _He raised his staff towards the sobbing woman, his own face devoid of any emotion as he shot out a bright beam of light and magic towards Lonai._

 _"Now.. rise! Commander Lonai!" he bellowed, finishing the incantation for his spell._

 _Lonai's screams were deafening as they pierced the air whilst she was unwillingly brought back to life to serve the Scourge for eternity and beyond._

xxx

Julianna shot up from the bed in panic, her eyes widened as she took in generous gulps of much needed air into her lungs. Her shaking hand flew up towards her heart, feeling the organ beating rhythmically fast against her rib cage. She tried to get her breathing controlled again, as she sat upright in her dusty bed and tried counting in intervals of five seconds with each breath.

 _"Calm down... it was just a bad nightmare"_ , she thought to herself, her eyelids closing shut again as she clenched her hands uncomfortably tight. "Although... it had been a very real nightmare not too long ago."

She pushed the dark thoughts away, noting to herself that there was nothing more she could have done to have stopped Palawa Joko from mercilessly slaughtering their valiant group. High hopes or not, they were doomed from the start of their quest even though they had remained incredibly confident that they could take down Palawa Joko with their last minute ragtag group that had been pulled together.

" _If only I had been a better healer..._ ", Julianna thought, closing her eyes. " _Then... maybe... I could have saved them. Or at least prolonged the inevitable._ "

She shook her head and opened her dark brown eyes again, berating herself for the negative thoughts again. If she continued with the negativity, it would lead down to a path filled with nothing but consequences for herself. A long sigh escaped her lips once she was able to get her breathing back on the right track once more, and she ran a hand through her dirt saturated mop of blonde curls as she moved on from the panic inducing nightmare. She winced when her fingers caught on various tangles and she could feel clumps of sand living among the many strands of hair.

"Doylak spit...", she cursed aloud when one particular tangle sharply pulled at her scalp.

She sighed again for the second time since waking up from her fitful sleep. Julianna looked around the dark room, her eyes desperately trying to adjust to the inky darkness that surrounded her vision. It had been uncomfortably quiet within the room, the only sound heard coming from her whenever she moved around in the dusty bed. The memories of her current living nightmare came flooding back in full force as she was reminded of her newly appointed role within the Desolation.

The healer stretched her arms above her head as she strained her spine, wincing upon hearing the vertebrae in her spine crack. Perhaps this new bed wasn't actually much of an improvement from the dreadful cot she was used to sleeping in back in Lion's Arch.

" _I guess it's still better than sleeping on the cold floor_ ", Julianna tried thinking to herself optimistically, idly scratching at her arm as she yawned.

A grimace twisted itself onto her face upon feeling a thick layer of panic induced sweat and grime laying atop her forearm. It was bad enough she already reeked of sulfur and pungent body odor from all of the traveling she had been forced to do. The woman had never desired a bath so badly in all her life, even after the experiences of dealing with the foul smelling pirates and the infected Skale bite wounds back in Lion's Arch.

But given her new home was now within the desolated wastes of the scorched desert, she wasn't sure about ever seeing clean water so soon again. She thought back to how devoid the land had looked of any water during the journey here to the Bone Palace, as the land seemed to be completely barren and dried up.

With an annoyed growl, she balled up the moth eaten blanket and threw it across the dark room in a immature tantrum typical of her personality. She followed the action by pulling her legs up to her chest as she let her sweat stained head fall atop her knees. She could deal with a terrible place to sleep, but going without proper hygiene was something she was going to struggle with.

"Son of a Skritt..", she cursed again upon realizing that something as simple as a bath was probably a rare commodity whilst in the confines of a place like the Desolation. Her thoughts wandered back to Grand Vizier Utumishi and the state of his own personal quarters as she thought about her prior meeting with him. Compared to the sad, dreary place she had now been residing within, his bedroom looked closer to that of luxury and as it was decorated with high end goods. And when she thought back to the overall hygiene of his own personal appearance, he hadn't appeared to have been someone that had been without a proper bath for a long while.

"Besides that awful cologne he wears and the smell of sulfur forever staining his clothes", she thought to herself as she tucked her chin above her knees. "He didn't really... smell that bad. Which means he must have access to a bath somewhere around here."

While Julianna was incredibly stubborn and wouldn't admit it aloud, she knew that Utumishi was the only other person she would dare try to share a conversation with in this inhospitable hell hole. And even then, it still wasn't much of a step above to the unfriendly disposition from many of the other Awakened. She couldn't help but think back to the familiar Awakened warrior that had nearly crushed her skull inwards after helping him remove the rock from his foot.

But like she had already told herself before, she wasn't there to make friends with the Awakened or Utumishi, or even Palawa Joko himself.

Especially not Joko.

There was also the burning need to find a way of escape that was still burdening her current motives.

Julianna sighed heavily, her chest rising and falling with the loud inhale and exhale of breath. She realized in that moment just how astonishingly alone she actually was out here in the Desolation. And on top of that, if she wanted to escape from its dreadful terrors, she was going to have to do it all on her own without much of any help.

The healer fiddled around with the loose fitting ring on her middle finger as she continued with the conflicting thoughts to herself. " _I need to start small..._ ", she thought to herself. " _If I can work on small victories first, then planning out something much larger in scale such as an escape plan probably won't be so intimidating._ "

And that in turn, started with at least getting herself clean again.

"Maybe Utumishi would know something about that...", she said out loud to herself, thinking back to the slimy adviser once again.

With that small quest for herself in mind, she swung her legs from the bed and threw on her clothes from the day before as she had nothing else she could wear. Once she was fully clothed again, the dirtied-looking woman made her way towards the closed door and slowly opened it.

Her blonde bob of hair slowly and carefully poked out into the hallway, eyes looking up and down the long corridor before cautiously making her way out of the dark room. The area was almost just as eerily still and quiet out here, the only sound coming from the occasional crackles of flame emitting from the few lone torches lining the walls.

In a few short strides, she made her way to the neighbor adjacent from her own room, and lightly rapped on the door with her hand in a hurried manner. "Utumishi, it's me Julianna. I wanted to ask a small thing from you."

There was no reply from within the room and for a brief second, she wondered if the man had actually been in there. For all she knew, Utumishi could have been blissfully unaware of her current problem as he was attending to his own duties back at the Bone Palace. Unfortunately for her, she had no way of telling time in an underground place that had no windows, so she couldn't piece together just how long she had been asleep for given her biological clock was in disarray.

She waited. Still no response.

She then wondered if perhaps Joko had actually enacted upon his last threat and strung the adviser from the ceiling using the man's lower intestines like he said he would.

The woman rapped on the door more urgently the second time, frowning when she still didn't receive a response from inside. Impatient and tired of smelling like the behind of a Doylak, her hand then clenched into a balled fist. Just as she was about to loudly bang on the door with her fist, it opened before she ever got the chance to. Her clenched hand froze in midair, and she was suddenly glad she had reacted fast enough or else she would have punched the familiar man right in the jaw.

A small cheeky smile formed on her freckled face upon seeing the familiar face again.

Utumishi stood there, looking as though he had just rolled out of bed as his face still held a dazed, yet incredibly peeved expression. His hand moved up to pinch his brow as he groaned upon seeing the one person he had no interest in talking to anymore. He figured that after introducing the woman to her personal quarters, he wouldn't have any more business in dealing with her near worthless hide.

But obviously that wasn't the case because the lout was still here bothering him.

"You'd better have a damned good reason for waking me up this late in the hour", he sneered, the toxicity in his voice sounding loud and clear. He probably hadn't even gone to bed less than an hour ago. He figured her need to bother him at this time must have been because she had slept through the near entirety of the next day and didn't even realize it yet.

"I just needed to ask you a question", she replied, rubbing her upper arm nervously as she stared at the tar-ridden wall next to the doorway. "Would there be any means of bathing, during my involuntary stay here within the Bone Palace?"

Utumishi hardly skipped a beat in his snappy response. "There's always the sulfurous rivers outside, why don't you go jump into one of those?" he asked, rolling his eyes so far back into his head that they may as well have just stuck there. At this rate, the woman was going to actually cause it to happen because of how often he did it around her.

Julianna stuck her tongue out at the man as per usual her childish antics. "Very funny", she said again, repeating the same thing from the last time when the man had said something crude to her. Her brown eyes locked with the tired pair of blue ones still scrutinizing her every action.

The man across from her said nothing, as he was deciding whether or not he should actually indulge upon her request. He looked down the hallway towards the double doors and wondered what his ruler would do if he was in the same position right now. He couldn't imagine anyone would dare ask such a mundane question to their ruler if they actually valued their own lives.

Eventually the adviser decided to cave in to her request instead of just slamming the door in her face like he originally wanted to the second he had opened it to reveal her irritating smiling face. He figured that at least if he accepted her trivial request, then it would keep her busy for a short while.

"You'll find a room at the far end of the hallway on the right that has stored goods for those mortal beings that need to stay within the Bone Palace", Utumishi said with a resigned sounding sigh. "You can also find a small water pump in the corner in there."

The hopeful grin that had been on the woman's freckled face began to droop with each passing second, as the realization came to dawn on her. As her frown deepened ever more, it seemed Utumishi's own smile grew ever wider as though he were feeding off her displeased looking emotion.

"Remember the wooden bucket and stool that was in your room?" he teased, showing off the pearly whites from his grin as he lazily tugged at the hair on his goatee and leaned on his door frame. "You'll have to fill up that bucket with the pump that's in the storage room and bathe back in your room. I assume there's probably a used soap bar inside the bucket, probably left over from the previous occupant."

Julianna stood there staring at the ground and grimacing at the idea of washing herself down with just a bucket of soapy water. Her head snapped back up to meet the insufferable face that Utumishi had been sporting, as it was evident he found great amusement in her unconventional bathing predicament. She knew that no amount of soap or cologne in all of Elona could have rid him from being the slimy leech that he was.

The woman huffed and quickly bid her thanks under a grumble of curses, not wanting to see the adviser's detestable face anymore. She turned back around to return to her room for the wooden bucket that was inevitably waiting for her. On the short journey back, she also made sure to grab one of the lit torches on the wall so she could provide her room with some light whilst she bathed.

Utumishi simply shrugged when she buggered off so suddenly, smiling to himself that he had actually been able to rid himself from the pest so easily. He quickly shut his door and returned back to his much welcomed bed before falling back into a restful slumber again.

xxx

Back in her dreary and sad excuse of a room again, Julianna's nose turned upwards when she looked down at the stool and bucket in the corner of the room. Just as the civil adviser had said, there was a forgotten bar of soap sitting for her at the bottom of the rickety wooden vessel. Part of her had been hoping that he had been obviously lying to her face again. She frowned as she pulled the thing out, having to tug on the object slightly as it had dried and stuck to the bottom.

"Gross...", she muttered as she examined the yellowing, waxy bar. She brought it to her nose to check the smell, finding that it hardly had much of an aroma to it at all. She concluded that it must have been quite simply made, likely produced from animal fat and hadn't been mixed with any kind of pungent scent.

Julianna shrugged her shoulders, deciding it would at least do its job of allowing her to not smell like a walking corpse anymore. The soap was thrown back into the large bucket, and she hauled the thing down the hallway in search of the room she had told her about.

Never before had she looked so forward to getting clean. Even if the means of doing so were not the most practical.

Whilst in the small storage room, Julianna had also found a spare rag of canvas which she decided she could use to scrub and rinse herself with. The piece of fabric might have once been used to hold a collection of spices given its sharp smell, but it had been left long-forgotten atop some random barrel. It was the only thing she had at her disposal to use as a bathing rag for the time being, and she figured the scentless soap would have rid away with it still smelling like an overfilled spice cabinet anyway.

Much to her favor, there was also an assortment of dried meats and fruit which she heartily helped herself to considering her stomach was running on near empty as well.

At the moment, the healer was now situated back within her room, naked and seated cross legged on the short rickety stool as she worked on getting herself clean again. Its legs creaked loudly each time she made any movement, and it broke the deafening silence of the small space. There hadn't been a drain of course, which meant most of the water was pooling onto stone floor below with nowhere to go. But at this point, Julianna could hardly care about that matter so long as she was finally getting herself clean.

The water pumped from the well had been cold which was to be expected, but the grime ridden woman certainly wasn't going to complain about that either given she actually had some means of washing herself now. She continued to take what little means she could, which was still a step and beyond from jumping into a sulfurous river, as Utumishi had suggested to her earlier.

 _Rinse. Lather. Scrub. Rinse. Repeat._

It was rhythmic with the way the small woman went about washing herself from head to toe with the used canvas she had been using. She would rinse herself down from the large bucket of pumped water, lather up the soap and then scrub her skin raw until she was satisfied with the cleanliness before washing off the lathered bubbles with the rag again. The healer would try her damnedest to rid herself from the sulfur smell that seemed to clog every single pore on her body.

As she worked on removing the layer of grime from her upper thighs, she craned her neck backwards and frowned at the flimsy handle of the door. Unfortunately for means of guaranteed privacy, she quickly found out that there had been none considering the door had no lock on it. But she should have expected as much considering a figure like Palawa Joko had probably banned all means of locked away secrets from his prying eyes.

She thought back to her latest encounter with Utumishi again, applying a thick layer of soap atop her legs.

She cleared her throat before openly mocking his comment in an exaggerated deep voice. "Why don't you go jump in the sulfurous river Julianna?" she said out loud, pushing her bare shoulders out and placing a soapy hand atop her chest for emphasis. "Why, Julianna, I do it all the time! It certainly explains why I smell so bad."

A small laugh escaped her lips, the first time ever since she had embarked with the group of Sunspear heroes in an attempt to assassinate the powerful, undead necromancer. Their original plan had been to muster a group together and confront the lich at the Bone Palace, but critical intel from a group called the Order of Whispers had come forth with the information that Joko and a brigand of his troops had last been seen on the Issnur Isles near the Astralarium.

Of course none of that information mattered anymore considering her previous group was now dead or turned into a shambling Awakened.

The smile that had been on her face quickly vanished.

Julianna continued her work of scrubbing her body and instead thought back to how grumpy the civil adviser had been when she had asked him about means of bathing. It was quite obvious he must have been sleeping prior to her bothering him, which meant it must have been some late hour of the night.

Although she still didn't appreciate the near balding man's unkind disposition towards her simple question, at least it had allowed her some sense of time. Which also meant that there would be little reason for anyone to come barging into her room whilst she sat there naked as the day she was born atop some wooden stool.

But as the healer had come to most recently learn, nothing for her went right for too long.

The choir of voices coming from outside the hallway and just a floor above suddenly breached the otherwise silent area. It sounded as though they had just started descending the spiral staircase that led into the tar infested pit.

Julianna simply froze, the hairs on the back of her neck prickling upward when she recognized one of the voices from the ensemble of chatter to have belonged to the monster, Palawa Joko himself. His voice was deep and it resonated against the thick walls, although it didn't sound angry or threatening at the moment. The soap bar in her hand lay frozen atop her thigh, the object now immobile while her ears honed in on the approaching noise.

" _By the depths, why_?!" she inwardly screamed to herself, panic rising as the voices from outside grew ever nearer.

She thought back again to when she had stuck her tongue out at him like a damned fool, and his response had merely been to maliciously grin back towards her. The woman hadn't seen him since that senseless encounter, and she wondered if the undead ruler was finally coming forth to enact a more dire punishment for her immature behavior towards him.

Julianna remained completely still as she sat naked upon the small wooden stool. The only sound came from the droplets of water cascading off her body and onto the stone floor below in small splashes. She didn't dare move even a single inch, terrified that the legs of the stool would creak loudly as they had been prone to doing since she had first started washing up.

The all too familiar bubble of fear began creeping up from deep within her chest, and she was finding it difficult to breath evenly again as the voices grew ever closer. Even muffled from outside, Joko's voice was unmistakable as it had belonged to the one most dreadful being that she currently feared more than anyone else in the entire world.

Her thoughts abruptly tormented her with the memories of Koss's dead body laying face down in a puddle of stagnant water, and of how cruel and unmerciful the lich had been in that moment as he brought the hero back as an unwilling Awakened corpse. She allowed the terrible images to harass her again, too afraid to try and shake them away as there was greater fear in making any possible noise with the head movement.

The sound of a door opening and closing could be heard, as it signaled the group had now stepped into the outside hallway, breaking the healer away from her darkening memories as she braved herself to twist her body around to closely watch the door.

Julianna then remained completely and utterly frozen, continuing to stay silent and listen to the sounds coming from just beyond a mere wall away while she stared at the entrance to her room.

There were two other voices that could be heard, both of which sounded distinctly feminine and not at all of the Awakened variety.

The naked woman's brows knit together in confusion, thinking that the current situation of two random women walking with Palawa Joko down into the belly of Bitumen Reserve was to be quite odd. Especially given that the only other occupants of the Bone Palace that she had seen, other than Utumishi of course, had only been Awakened.

Something had been said that caused the two woman to laugh obnoxiously, their mirth sounding painfully fake and as shrill as a Harpy's cry.

Julianna held her breath when the group was heard walking right past her unlocked door. But it seemed the three hadn't stopped in their journey at all, as she could hear the shill laughter and footfall continuing forth down the long corridor without pause.

She finally flinched when the noise of two heavy doors at the end of the hallway opened and slammed shut. The sound breached the uncomfortable silence, as it echoed loudly throughout the underground area and lingered on the air for a few seconds too long. There was long hesitant pause as it seemed even the droplets of water had come to a temporary stop within the midst of the small woman's dwindling state of panic.

After hearing the heavy doors closing and waiting for the sound to completely expedite, Julianna finally exhaled the deep breath she hadn't realized she had been holding in. The sound broke the silence of the room again as she turned back around to face the familiarity of the dark rock wall once more. Slowly, the fear began to retreat back away into the depths of her chest again, patiently in wait for the next time it would surely arise.

She slowly reached into the bucket with the used rag, gathering water within its fibers before rinsing away the soap and bubbles that had been left unattended to atop her thigh. The small living space resounded with the noise of water falling to the floor again, as a feeling of safe familiarity returned once again.

Julianna was now left alone with new and confusing thoughts as she finished up with washing herself clean.

" _I wonder who those two woman were that were walking with Joko towards his personal quarters_?" she thought, thinking back to when Utumishi had told her who the owner of the room had belonged to at the end of the hallway. She had found it even more odd considering that she figured a lich had no need of the biological function to sleep anymore, so as such, having a bedroom sounded quite strange.

She sat in contemplative silence, rinsing away the last of the bubbles as the steady dripping noise of water continued anew. Suddenly without warning as though the realization of her conflicting thoughts came to a conclusion, the healer's face grew flushed and hot as she understood what the two woman's purpose must have been and why they had followed Joko to his personal quarters. Her freckled cheeks were lit ablaze as a bright red tint temporarily stained her face.

"What. I mean what?... there's.. no way", Julianna stuttered, shaking her head as she tried to rid herself from the images her brain was trying to conjure. "Imp gall. I don't... even want to imagine something... like... that. How could they.. I mean.. why would they..."

The flushed faced woman pushed the unfathomable idea deep away into the farthest reaches of her brain and decided not to dwell anymore on the matter as it wasn't any of her business.

She dunked her head into the cold water, using her hands to scrub away at the dirt sitting within her blonde curls and eliminating the last thoughts about the two escorts. She didn't hold back in lathering her hands up with as much soap as possible before applying it to her head. The action was finished up when she dunked her head back into the water again to rinse out the drove of bubbles dancing around in her hair.

Once that task was finished, she sat back up on the stool and wrung out the excess water in her hair, though there wasn't much given her shorter haircut which was proven to be a blessing with how quickly it dried.

Her eyes then flew over to where she had discarded her clothes and she frowned, realizing they probably still reeked of sweat and sulfur. She grabbed them and threw them into the now soapy water bucket, hoping that it would be enough to get them clean again. Much like her hair, she wrung out the excess water soaked into her clothes and lay them across the bottom of her bed's frame so they could dry.

"Well, I certainly can't walk out there naked...", she muttered to herself, looking down at herself. Her brown eyes looked towards the chest where the discarded garments from the previous owner still lay.

She grabbed the tunic, holding it up to see it better. It was probably a few sizes too big, but it would work as an over sized and loose fitting dress considering it probably came past her knees. There were some loose fitting pants as well that actually seemed to be somewhat close to her own size, and the rope of twine she had taken from the rag of canvas could double as a makeshift belt if she were to tie it around her waist. And although the large armored boots were too big for her as well, she figured they would work for the time being, even though she would probably be tripping in them quite often.

Julianna looked over to where her discarded shoes had been thrown. "I don't think even the most skilled shoemaker in all of Tyria could repair those anymore." The pair was obviously beyond ruined, considering they had endured the harshest of environments on her journey here.

The healer quickly fitted herself in the new outfit, deciding it would serve a purpose of keeping her clothed. She rummaged through the rotten chest, pushing around other loose abandoned clothing until she finally came upon a dirty trench coat that was missing more than a few buttons. The piece of clothing was held up, before its new owner decided that it was actually worth using.

She chuckled, as she looked down at herself after fitting herself in the coat. "I look like a pitiful pirate in this getup, but at least I smell better than one now", she said aloud, thinking back to the memories of the sea-loving villains she had healed up back in Lion's Arch. Those forgotten memories of the sweat stained clothes masked poorly by the smell of terrible infected wounds would never truly leave her.

" _Well, I guess it's probably some random hour of the night, given my own sleeping schedule is currently skewered_ ", she thought to herself as she made her way towards the unlocked door. " _I need to figure out if leaving the area is at all possible, and what would be the best location to start planning something in the means of an escape._ "

With that new plan in mind, the healer stepped out into the silent hallway and made a great effort to make sure the door didn't slam behind her when it closed. She peered down the corridor to where the two large gilded doors stood, her face shriveling up in distaste. The thoughts of what terrible things could be happening behind those closed doors reared its ugly head again, and Julianna simply turned away from it.

Her face was contorted into utter disgust as she quickly left the hallway and headed towards the spiral staircase leading into Bitumen Reserve.

"Small victories first...", she reminded herself, buttoning up the minimal amount of buttons leftover on her coat as she ascended back into the awaiting wastes of the Desolation above.


	7. Surveying

**Update:** Fixing and updating!

xxx

 _"Small victories first...", she reminded herself, buttoning up the minimal amount of buttons leftover on her coat as she ascended back into the awaiting wastes of the Desolation above._

xxx

Julianna Fyre walked out into the awaiting night after ascending the spiral staircase from the semi-hidden underground belly of Bitumen Reserve. A deep set frown found itself to her face once the smell of rotten eggs hit her again like a sudden brick wall. She wasn't sure she was ever going to be able to get used to that particular stench of the sulfurous fumes, no matter how long she was supposed to stay here for.

The woman trekked across the tar-ridden ground, heading towards the outer walls of the Bone Palace. Once or twice she had nearly tripped over herself when one of her unfitted boots was sucked into the sticky substance coating the area, and it required her to pull roughly on her encased limb to free it from its confines. A loud suction noise emitted from the action when the piece of armor was removed, followed by a colorful string of curses that were muttered loudly with each time it occurred.

A couple of Awakened archers standing above on a tall platform overlooking the inner walls of the Bone Palace had paused in their patrol to watch the bizarre scene of their undead leader's newest recruit. They watched in amusement, to see the woman struggling to walk through the thick tar-coated ground. The two animated cadavers watched on, taking a five copper bet with each other to see of how many more times it would happen to the unfortunate woman before she made it to her destination.

Unfortunately for Julianna, it still seemed as though nothing would go right for her in this near-inhospitable nightmare of a palace.

The occurrence with her armored feet getting stuck happened about three more times until the healer was finally able to seek refuge upon more solid and dry ground again.

Julianna sighed a welcoming breath of relief upon reaching surface that wasn't stained with sticky tar anymore. Although the new change of scenery hadn't been much of an improvement considering it was still littered with endless amount of forgotten bones.

But she hadn't come above ground just to wade through sticky tar and break in her new shoes. She still had a plan in mind, and that was to survey the area and get a feel for the landscape around the area of the Bone Palace so she could potentially start plotting an escape.

If that was even possible.

As the healer passed under the encompassing archways that were lined with wagering archers and other Awakened, she made sure to take careful examination about the surrounding environmental landscapes rather than look at the architecture of the macabre-looking palace. She looked around for anywhere that could prove as a possible exit for her to plot around.

The location of the structure was built in an incredibly fortified area, considering that nearly almost all the sides of it were encompassed by impossibly high mountainsides or ravines of deadly sulfur-ridden rivers. In terms of strategic location for a powerful and strategic ruler like Palawa Joko, it served as the perfect place to be set up defensively. If anyone was naive enough and wanted to lead an army against the fortress, their forces would become bottle-necked in any of the small canyons and would be caused a great disadvantage as waves of battle hardened Awakened forces showed up to dominate any kind of fight.

As Julianna walked the perimeter of the palace grounds and focused on the encompassing walls of mountain nearby that seemed impossible to pass over, she unknowingly came upon a deep ravine due to the entirety of her focus being spent elsewhere in that moment. The healer cursed loudly to herself for the umpteenth time since stepping outside that night, as she had nearly walked right into the ravine.

A small pebble that had been embedded into the side of the rock came loose when her foot stepped upon it, and it cluttered to the bottom of the canyon harmlessly.

The woman took a few careful steps backwards, before she dared herself to peek over the edge of the ravine again. Her eyes scanned up and down the length of sulfurous river below, her mouth turning to the side when she could see it stretch endlessly towards the west and continue slightly more to the east as well. Wisps of sulfurous smelling heat danced tauntingly across the top of the yellowish sludge, as though daring anyone to take a careless dive into it.

She thought back to Utumishi's rude comment towards her about jumping into the very same river.

"Curse that slimy leech of a man to the Mists and back!" she cursed aloud to herself, picking up another stray rock and chucking it towards the yellow depths facing in front of her. Julianna knelt down and hugged her knees, watching as the rock fell to the bottom of the canyon much like the one before. Except this time she had visualized the spiteful image of the adviser's face upon the rock as it descended into the dangerous chemical below and remained completely unharmed.

She watched the now immobile rock a little while longer, sighing before standing back up once more. She mindlessly fidgeted with the gold ring sitting on her middle finger again, an action that was proving to become more frequent whenever she found herself becoming conflicted with her inner thoughts. She thought about how Utumishi had been the only other mortal and still seemingly fleshy and mortal person living in these desolate wastes, and he had somehow proven to possibly be more of jerk to her than Joko actually was.

Though that was likely impossible given everything the tyrannical ruler had done thus far to successfully uproot her entire life and recruit her into his army.

 _"At least I'm not afraid of Utumishi unlike a particular lich I just happen to know..."_ , she dejectedly thought to herself, knowing full well she was absolutely terrified of him at this point and she wondered if she would ever get over her fear of him.

 _"Stop with the negative thoughts, small victories first, remember?"_ , she thought again, berating herself again in an attempt to divert her back to her current quest. If she wanted to escape from her current imprisonment, then she still needed a plan of action. Her attention turned to look around again as she continued with her quest of surveying the land.

Heavily armored feet continued walking forward, deciding to follow the sulfurous river east and continue with her perimeter of the outer walls of the Bone Palace. There were numerous other Awakened troops ambling about, though they paid her little mind.

The small woman had passed by a large bridge constructed of bones near the entrance, as she took notice of the impossibly high rib cages that decorated each side of it like a gaping maw of teeth. Right beyond the bridge, led a possible route leading out towards the expanse of the desolate wastes. However, she knew walking straight across through the heavily Awakened patrolled road was nowhere near ideal unless she could somehow produce a Mesmer illusion spell to hide her identity.

As she went to traverse the small rock ledge leading around to the other side of the Bone Palace, she was abruptly stopped by an all-too familiar undead face. Although many of the Awakened had looked eerily similar to one another due to the amount of rot and decay of that had occurred to their facial features, she was still easily able to identify this same one as the patient that her bleeding heart had helped seek out during their shared journey here.

Julianna also figured it wasn't difficult to forget the face of an animated cadaver that had nearly crushed her skull inward with his once-injured foot.

"There isn't anything of importance to see over there", the Awakened soldier ordered simply, moving to step in front of the curious woman. He had been none too surprised to see that her curious disposition hadn't faltered in the slightest since her arrival to the Bone Palace.

The soldier briefly thought back to how the familiar woman had mended a rather bothersome injury of his, all on her own willing accord. Had Joko not seen the act and wordlessly put a stop to it from afar, nothing would have stopped him from bringing his foot down upon her skull. And in that case, curiosity would have most definitely killed the cat.

On top of all that, even though she had helped him with his bothersome situation, that also still didn't mean he was suddenly friends with her.

Or ever would be for that matter.

Julianna seemed to have ignored the comment from the familiar Awakened that towered over her, as she tried craning her head to look over the armored shoulder obstructing her view and ignoring his foreboding words. She even attempted to jump up and down to get a better look of what lay just beyond, though it was a fruitless endeavor on her part.

"You should return back to your room in Bitumen Reserve unless you want to get into more trouble", he spoke again. His hulking undead form quite literally providing a wall of immovable muscle for her to move around in the limited space.

The soldier knew that the only option available would have been to jump into the sulfurous wastes awaiting below and walking the rest of the way through the river. But knowing that the woman was still very fleshy and mortal, would mean nothing but an immediate death for her.

 _"I bet there's a canyon or something leading out of here just around the corner, why else wouldn't he want me going over there?"_ , the healer mused to herself, peering around the soldier's hulking form again and thinking of the possible escape that lay just out of reach.

No one knew of her potential escape plan yet, since it was still quite new and she hadn't shared that information with a single soul, either undead or still alive. But she wondered if Joko had already predicated she was going to try and make a run from her current imprisonment, and had planned ahead to stop her from doing so.

"Why, is there something over there that I shouldn't be looking at?" she asked to the Awakened warrior instead, raising a curious brow towards her former patient.

"No, there isn't", the soldier growled back, grabbing hold of the woman's shoulder before spinning her around and roughly shoving her forward. "Now leave before I have to escort you back to your room with the necessary force."

The small woman nearly tripped forward after being shoved, and she quickly righted herself and whipped back around to face the rude undead. Her nostrils flared, as her mouth was set in a hard line as she debated what to do in that moment.

The Awakened warrior's beady eyes bore into her own, as though daring her to make a single move against him. Perhaps he would actually get the chance to cleave her skull with his foot.

Julianna hesitated, as she hypothesized about trying to quickly dart in between him while he probably wasn't expecting it right now. But she quickly surmised it wasn't going to be worth the amount of trouble it would produce once she was inevitably caught. She huffed loudly, a pout forming on her freckled face as her lower lip was vastly protruding outward.

If some form of escape was still on her agenda, then she needed to keep herself away from trouble for the time being. However, she knew from her encounter with this current undead wall of muscle, that being kept away from that particular area outside of the Bone Palace was something very peculiar to remember back to. She decided to store that important information away for future use.

The healer finally turned to leave, but her immature and stubborn behavior wasn't going to allow her walk away without getting one last dig in. She paused, turning on her heel once she was some distance away and was still within clear enough earshot.

"Hey grumpy, I thought about a new name for you?" Julianna began, pointing a finger towards her former patient as the corners of her mouth quirked up with sudden amusement. Her eyes were near glinting with mischief. "Seeing as you don't currently have one, your new name is going to be Crabby, since it seems to fit your personality so well."

The Awakened soldier was nearly speechless upon hearing his newly bestowed nickname, as he fought back against running across the short threshold and actually giving into temptation as he reduced her skull to nothing but red pulp on the ground. His lips curled back in distaste, as a irritable sounding growl rumbled loudly from deep within his chest.

He stood his ground instead, narrowing his yellow orbs towards the bold and grinning idiot as she returned back from the direction the good doctor had come from.

 _"Curious... and immaturely idiotic"_ , the Awakened soldier concluded to himself, shaking his head in disapproval before turning back around himself to continue with his patrol.


	8. An Invitation

**Update:** Update train, choo-choo!

xxx

 _"Curious... and immaturely idiotic"_ , _the Awakened soldier concluded to himself, shaking his head in disapproval before turning back around himself to continue with his patrol._

xxx

Julianna oddly found herself wandering back into the throne room once more, given bravery only by the fact that Joko likely wasn't occupying the room for the time being. She had already surveyed the landscape of the area she was permitted to freely walk around in, so she had nowhere else to really go for the time being. And besides, if her intuition had been right with the two escorts she had previously heard walking with him, then the lich would hopefully be busy for some long duration of time.

She physically shivered as the terrible conjured images crept back into her thoughts, and she quickly pushed them back down into the recess of her mind. The woman's dark eyes looked around the familiar, large encompassing room once more.

There were very few Awakened troops meandering about in here, as only a few lone archers stood atop the singular upper balcony area. They hardly paid the healer any mind when she approached the seated throne, as they had already long since concluded her presence to be of little threat.

Especially after having watched her stumble around like a newborn rock gazelle in the tar not too long ago.

If anything, the observing archers only rolled their eyes and shook their armored heads when they saw the small woman carefully stepping over the bone ridden floor again like they were live mines strewn about.

After carefully stepping about the bone ridden floor again in her over sized armored boots, Julianna approached the three chairs seated near the back of the room on a raised mound of dirt. Her attention was focused on the bone decorated chair in the middle, a disturbed look crossing her face as she examined the two centaur skeletons on each side of the furniture. The rest of the exalted-looking throne looked much the same, with various other skulls and bones of varying sizes holding up the structure of the disturbing center piece. On top of being decorated with the parts of those deceased, it was also the largest of the three given its owner, which shouldn't have come surprising.

Julianna briefly wondered if Joko's near-blinding ego was just that big, or he was trying to overcompensate for something else entirely.

Her eyes looked back to the other two chairs on each side, knowing that one of them had belonged to Grand Vizier Utumishi seeing as how he had been occupying it the last time she was in here. However, that still left her with the mystery of who the owner was of the other empty chair. She hadn't seen, or heard mention of anyone else of great stature or importance residing in the Bone Palace yet.

Then again, she had also been unaware of potential escorts in the area as well.

Brown orbs flicked over towards the small table at the end of the mysterious chair as she caught sight of a small pile of books sitting atop it. The woman's head tilted to the side, mimicking that to something of a confused canine as she raised a curious eyebrow towards the oddity.

Curiosity got the better of the her as she crossed the short threshold towards the objects, the heavy boots dragging across the padded ground as their owner stopped in front of the literature. Slowly reaching out, she grabbed hold of the one sitting at the very top of the pile.

Julianna held the book with great care, still in disbelief that something as wonderful as literature could actually still be found in a desolate location such as this. Her hands twisted the medium sized book around, admiring how well it had been taken care of as it showed little signs of wear and tear.

"Raptor Training and Care...", she read out loud as she examined the title on the spine. She hummed to herself, brows furrowing at the bizarre line of subject that she hadn't been expecting. Her fingers ghosted through the pages, watching the illustrations of the scaled creatures flutter by as she quickly flipped through its contents. "Not what I was expecting... but... interesting nonetheless."

She tucked the book underneath her arm for the time being, looking to the title of the next book in the pile. Speculative thoughts ran through her mind about whether or not the contents of the book would shed some light about the owner of the rightmost chair in the throne room.

As she picked up the second book, there was a fine layer of dust that showed where it had been picked up from. Much like the layers of dust found within her new underground room back in Bitumen Reserve, it was a clear indication that the piece of literature obviously hadn't been read or handled in quite some time.

"The Reign of Palawa Joko", she said out loud before grabbing the thing with zero interest and tucking it into the same place under her arm as the first book without second thought.

Julianna felt a small glimmer of hope that perhaps one of the random books would contain an illustration of a map depicting the surrounding area, or possibly even all of Elona itself. Information such as that could be vital for a potential escape plan, as she was a complete stranger to the dangerous lands around the Bone Palace and even further beyond. From what she had seen in her brief survey of the surrounding land, escape seemed nigh impossible unless she could gain the ability to traverse through sulfurous rivers or scale impossibly high mountainsides.

It had been the last book of the collection that had finally caught her interest though. "Humans of Elona...", she mumbled aloud, her thumb brushing off some of the dust as she held it in front of her. She awkwardly shifted her occupied arm around and replaced the other two books back on the table before allowing herself to divulge her full attention towards the one book that had actually enticed her.

She opened the first page, reading the short summary which foretold that the book went into detail about the history of Elona. She flipped through more of the pages, looking for anything that would have resembled something close to a continent map or a guide trail.

"Find something interesting there, _little one_?" Joko asked, his voice suddenly breaking the silence as he stepped into the familiarity of his throne room once more. He had been quite surprised to have seen his new healer awake at such a late hour, and he wondered with great suspicion what she had been up to as he still hardly trusted the recently recruited woman.

He had been hoping that Utumishi would have been occupying the room instead as there was an important matter back in his personal quarters that needed to be dealt with, but he figured that toying with the small mouse of a healer was far better entertainment for the time being.

The voice made Julianna's blood run ice cold, and she slammed the book shut and returned the three novels back to their former place on the table before whipping around to face the Scourge.

Joko strode into his throne room with confidence, eyes set on the unexpected prey as he leisurely made his way toward her. He watched, entertained with her again as she stubbornly held her ground in front even though she was quite clearly having a hard time with the matter. Her face had appeared fearless, but the display of her form quivering at the mere sight of him told a different story altogether.

Julianna's fight-or-flight stress response had kicked in something terribly at that moment, and it was screaming at her to get away as far as possible from the walking cadaver God-King quickly approaching her. Occurrences with the deadly lich never seemed to go well based upon recent experiences, and she wished more than ever that she had actually listened to the cautionary words of her familiar Awakened patient she had so dutifully just named. Had she just returned back to her room down in Bitumen Reserve like he had threatened, she wouldn't have been in this current mess.

"Fascinating that you would instead be biding your time with literature instead of actually doing the job I recruited you for", Joko said, the corners of his mouth turning up as he stopped to stand right before her. He towered over her small height, as he looked down upon her and crossed his arms behind his back.

The woman in front of him meanwhile was focused on staring at the ground as Joko stood just inches away from her. She had been expecting the pungent smell of his expensive fragrance to hit her, but what caught her nose instead had been the smell of fresh blood. Being a medic, she had become all too familiar with the heavy iron-like scent as she had come into contact with it almost daily while back in her old job in Lion's Arch. Like a bloodhound, she looked all around his person for the source of where it was coming from, as she fell into her all too familiar medical predisposition.

Joko was slightly taken aback by the woman's sudden change of behavior. Just seconds ago she had seemed utterly terrified of his presence, as was the expected norm for whenever he was near her. But now, that fear had seemed to have completely ebbed away as she was now intently focused on examining something on his person. The grin on his face faltered, as he continued watching.

The healer had ignored his prior comment for the time being. Her eyebrows were tightly drawn together as her sharp eyes quickly caught the contrast of red splattered across the ornaments of gold and turquoise on the lich's front chest armor. As she looked all around his outfit, she could see more and more of the fresh-looking blood staining his clothes and leathery skin and she wondered where the source of it had come from as he hadn't appeared to have been injured.

"See something that you like, _little one_?" Joko asked, breaking the silence as the grin on his weathered-looking face returned once more. His tone was light and indulging, as the leathery skin across his face was stretched taut with clear amusement on his features.

The woman was broken away from her examination upon hearing the arrogant words spill forth from the self-proclaimed ruler's mouth. Her head snapped back up like a crack of lightning, the heat of embarrassment quickly rising up in her cheeks as she hadn't even realized how blatant she must have looked in that moment of her staring. Her pair of brown eyes met with the glinting pair of blue ones looking back down at her.

Without thinking clearly, Julianna went to stubbornly stick her tongue out at the lich again in retaliation for his unnecessary comment, momentarily forgetting there still had been no ill-timed consequence from the last time she had done it and gotten away unscathed.

But this time, her action was easily predicted and she wasn't allowed to leave freely this time around.

In but a short second, the amused looking face that Joko had been wearing was quickly replaced with the terrifying one that fit closer to his cruel and tenacious personality. He scowled upon seeing the undisciplined actions of the healer again, and he was quick this time to put a stop to her immature behavior. Before she even had the time to react, he shot out a clawed hand to roughly grab hold of her face.

And just as before back in the Issnur Isles when the two had first fatefully met, she stubbornly tried to keep her face away from him but it was to no avail.

"Ah, but that tongue of yours could be used for far better things, wouldn't you agree?" Joko teased, the spiteful humor returning once again. He turned her face side to side as he examined the deepening red coloring of her face, watching as though she were a specimen on display for him to personally study.

Julianna closed her eyes, grimacing when the strong smell of iron assaulted her nose once more, and she could only imagine it was coming from the fresh blood spilled upon his armored gauntlets. She recoiled in fear, imagining that he was unintentionally painting her face like a canvas with the red paint staining his hands and fingers.

It certainly hadn't helped either that she could feel still her ears burning in embarrassment from the prior suggestive comments.

"I anticipated someone within the medical field to possess somewhat of an intelligent brain", Joko mused, pressing his clawed hold tighter as it caused the woman's lips to fold together. He kept the grip on her face tight, but not strained enough that it would cause the delicate skin on the mortal's face to split open.

Julianna only whined in protest, still trying to pull her face away from facing the wretched being that had forced her into its grasp. She was finding it more and more difficult to think rationally with each passing second that ticked by.

Although her hands still remained free in that moment, logic told her that it would be a very bad idea to try and cast a meager smite spell towards the powerful lich in front of her. She could only imagine that she would be turned to nothing but dust and bones the second he realized her bold intentions. And given how easily he had predicted the repercussion filled action that had gotten her into this mess, she had no doubt in her mind that he could foresee her trying to cast a spell at him.

She felt her head become cloudy, as the smell of blood and decay continued to assault her sense of smell more than ever now.

It seemed Joko was about to say something else towards the struggling woman, but was interrupted by a voice just behind him.

"My esteemed God-king? I certainly do hope that I'm not interrupting anything, but you had asked for me?" Utumishi asked as he stood a few feet away from the scene, watching the scene with sudden interest as he held back a hyena-like grin. Joko had woken him up by pounding on the outside of his door demanding to meet him back at the Bone Palace for a quick discussion of an impeding matter.

He mused that walking upon this particular scene in the throne room and finding his ruler and the new healer in such a curious situation had been well worth the interruption of sleep though.

Julianna felt her heart flutter in relief upon the familiar sound of the adviser's voice breaking the uncomfortable setting of the room. Although she detested the other man, she had never been so glad for his sudden presence. She could feel Joko's iron vice-like grip flinch just slightly as though he had been caught off-guard from the interruption, but it was the only notion that anyone could have been noticed as he kept control of his otherwise calm demeanor.

The grip clenched even tighter thereafter, as though frustration was leaking through and it nearly threatened to break skin before he tore himself away to address his Head of Civil Governance.

"Immature and rudimentary...", Joko muttered to himself after watching the healer's hands fly up towards her face as she cradled the abused skin. He turned around to face his adviser, deciding that he would have to continue this little excursion of entertainment another time.

"Ah, Utumishi, there you are. Just the man I was looking for", Joko began as he stepped away from the scene as though nothing had happened between him and the flustered looking woman next to him. "The reason I had called for you earlier was because of a particular incident that occurred within my personal quarters last night."

Utumishi's own face paled upon hearing the dreaded words spilling from his king's mouth. He knew from experience that nothing could bode well that last sentence heard. The dark-skinned man held back an annoyed sneer and nodded in affirmation for the lich to continue.

"The two lecherous woman that accompanied me had irked me quite terribly", he continued, crossing his arms across his chest as his voice remained impassive from his actions. He waved an expressive hand around as he spoke. "Unfortunately for the two of them, there are now pieces of them strewn around my room."

Julianna could suddenly feel herself grow ill upon hearing the atrocious act that must have been committed.

Then puzzle pieces suddenly all came together for her at once.

Her eyes darted back over toward's Joko's armor again, her eyes unable to tear themselves away from fresh blood spilled upon the canvas of gold adorning his person. The blood hadn't come from him, but rather the two woman that she had heard walking with him just the night before.

"Of course, it will be done my magnificent and glorious king", Utumishi said after a long pause. Of course, he wouldn't dare go against his ruler's direct orders lest he succumb to the God-King's wrath. But he wasn't too terribly motivated to go clean up the bloodied, macabre mess left behind in the personal quarters.

The adviser then reached into his robes, suddenly pulling out a wax stamped envelope. "Oh, a courier also came by and delivered this letter on my way to come see you. He said it was from the Prince from the Garden of Seborhin. Quite a curious thing to receive so out of the blue."

Joko snatched the letter out from Utumishi's outstretched hand as it was offered to him. His clawed digit easily tore into the fibers as he pulled it out from its outer confines of paper. The matter of potential politics were always a pressing matter for him to deal with, especially considering he had a region to take over that required constant sabotage and careful spread of propaganda in his name.

Utumishi stood by patiently waiting as his leader read over the letter. His attention was shortly diverted back towards where the woman nearby had remained rooted in same spot from when he had first walked into the throne room. The corners of his mouth turned upward when he saw she was obviously deep within her own troubling thoughts over what had just occurred. She had been fiddling with the enchanted ring he had given to her, an obvious nervous tick that was on full display.

Julianna was suddenly broken from her haze when she heard a short whistle coming from the short near-balding man in an attempt to catch her attention. She looked up to see him watching her more intently than ever. Her eyes just narrowed towards him, trying to figure out what his ploy was as the man had only endlessly belittled and teased her since her arrival to the Bone Palace. She watched, as he looked from her and then back towards Joko, and then back to her again and ending with the wiggling a brow suggestively.

The healer's ears began to burn again, as the silent gesture had been all too clear. Her own brows shot upward towards the ceiling in shock, as she mouthed, " _Very funny..."_ , towards the man before stubbornly turning herself around so her back was facing the duo.

Utumishi could only chuckle to himself, which he quickly disguised as a misplaced cough as to not garner unwanted attention from the other person in question. However, he was deeply satisfied that he had been able to catch just a glimpse of the burning red color reappear on the woman's face again before she hid herself from his scrutinizing view. He found some sense of joy in bothering the easily irritable lout, even as detestable as he found her to be.

His amusement was cut short when Joko finally spoke up again, causing the adviser to quickly replace his face with the more familiar and serious mask he was prone to wearing around the highest ranking noble.

"Do you believe our bumbling, local Prince actually sent this letter of invitation for a formal dinner?" Joko asked to his audience, musing to himself as he looked over the words again. His dark eyes scanned the contents, reading in between the lines for anything he may have possibly missed. A clawed hand moved up to stroke his chin in thought.

Utumishi hummed, thinking over the answer before speaking as he tugged on his goatee, nearly mirroring his leader's own actions. "I thought we had a pretty good understanding with the Prince, especially since we had met with him just short a few weeks ago."

"I have that deplorable Prince so tightly wrapped around my ruling thumb that he wouldn't dare raise even a plump-looking pinky finger towards me", the undead ruler said with utmost confidence. He thought back to how the submissive and overweight noble man had quivered with utmost fear when he first met him, and he knew there was no possible way for him to have grown a spine since then.

There was a heavy, uncomfortable pause in the room as Joko seemed to have been mulling over the situation. His brows were knit together, and he continued rubbing the bottom of his chin in deep thought.

"Perfidy!" Joko suddenly snapped a short moment later, his armored claws clenching around the frail paper. His sudden fit of rage caused the two other occupants in the room to flinch in surprise. "I wouldn't be surprised if it was that damnable Order of Shadows group trying to stir the pot again. Or even worse, some unworthy band of Sunspear dogs trying to rebel against me."

Julianna hadn't been paying much mind to the conversation as she was still stuck within her world of distracted thoughts, but her ears had honed back in when she heard mention of the word 'Sunspear'. She slowly turned back around, now focusing on the conversation shared between the undead ruler and his lowly, worm-like adviser.

"Well, it certainly wouldn't be the first time...", Utumishi replied, his eyes darting to where the wayward healer was still standing, if only for just a brief second. His unspoken message towards the healer had been loud and clear as he remembered back to the information foretelling a meddlesome group of Sunspear heroes that had made an attempt to assassinate Palawa Joko. Of course it had been unsuccessful for the group, and Joko had returned with a few more Awakened bodies for his army, and unfortunately the lout herself as well.

Julianna glared hard at the man giving her such a disapproving look, her fists clenching as she struggled against casting a smite spell towards his head.

"No matter though", Joko continued, neatly folding up the crumpled paper to the best of its ability before handing it back to his underling. "If it is indeed a trap, then the group trying to attain such an unfeasible quest will be cut down. We'll depart to the Seborhin Gardens in Vabbi at sundown with a small force of Awakened troops, you included Utumishi."

"Of course, it would be my pleasure to accompany you on such an important trip", Utumishi bowed, accepting back the letter and in understanding of the current orders. He had been quite pleased upon hearing he would be joining the group to such a luxurious and rich location of Elona. "But I have to ask, who will be watching over the palace in the meantime?"

"Wurmmarshal Osa Ekolo will be taking immediate charge during the midst of our short absence", Joko answered, looking over to where the unoccupied chair to the left of his throne stood. "Do be a peach, and send a courier with a verbal message to her as soon as possible. I imagine she'll still be at the Junundu Hatchery and training with the disgusting beasts."

"It will be done, my king", the adviser replied, nodding as he began to walk off again.

"Oh, but that would be after you have dealt with that bothersome mess I told you about. The one still waiting for you back in my personal quarters", Joko continued with a sly smile, inspecting his pointed claws impassively at the dark red color still staining them. "Do take care of that promptly before a ghastly smell makes its home there."

There had been a considerably longer pause in the man's reply this time around. "That will be done as well, my glorious king", Utumishi concluded, quickly sauntering off in search of a potential Awakened mummy that could he could throw the disgusting task of work onto instead.

Julianna took the mortal man's quick exit as an excuse for herself to leave as well. After the situation that had just occurred before he had wandered into the throne room, she wanted to leave promptly before something else worse happened between her and Joko.

"Grawl hair...", she cursed aloud as she nearly tripped over her unfitted armored boots and slid down the small incline away from the throne. The once careful action of trying to step around discarded bones on the floor had been long since been forgotten in her attempt to flee the Bone Palace with newfound haste.

"Oh, and Julianna", Joko suddenly said aloud, the the tone in his voice turning back up to be sickeningly and deceitfully sweet as he watched her try to slink away before he had finished his conversation with her. He observed with great satisfaction as the healer had stopped right in her tracks.

"Yes?" she replied, not daring to turn around again, as the words were making her feel nauseous. She didn't want to remain in the throne room alone with the terrifying person anymore.

"You'll be coming along to this 'supposed' dinner as well", he continued, indifferent to the matter that he was having to talk to the back of her fluffy-looking head as he moved to sit atop his throne. "Perhaps you can finally put those skills of yours to use, for once."

Julianna could feel bile at the back of her throat, but she quickly nodded in affirmation, as she swallowed the acid back down. The comment had obviously been referring to her skills as a healer, given the group was potentially about to walk into a trap if his prediction was proven correct. But given the previous suggestive comments he had been making towards her prior to Utumishi walking in and interrupting them, had also meant there was likely a evocative and hidden underline meaning behind his words.

"Of course...", she said lamely, and quickly hustled to return back to the confines of her room down in Bitumen Reserve where she would remain until absolutely called for.

Julianna was definitely glad she hadn't turned back around on her way out of the throne room.

Because she figured her freckled stained face must have looked like a blaring red beacon had Joko been able to properly see it.

And she was quite frustrated with herself that it hadn't been the first time it had happened around the lecherous and horribly intimidating undead ruler.


	9. The Gardens of Seborhin

**Update:** Just more fixes. I don't understand how ya'll put up with these previous spelling errors. ;_;

xxx

 _"You'll be coming along to this 'supposed' dinner as well", he continued, indifferent to the matter that he was having to talk to the back of her fluffy-looking head as he moved to sit atop his throne._

xxx

Upon his own orders, the undead God-King of Elona had disembarked the very next day from the Bone Palace with a small Awakened force mustering behind on their journey to the Gardens of Seborhin in Vabbi. Grand Vizier Utumishi had been asked to join the seemingly random excursion as well, given as his prowess in social politics was always a necessary boon to the tyrannical leader.

Julianna Fyre was reluctantly in tow as well.

If this truly was some kind of ambush plan like Joko was expecting it to be, then he was going to put on quite the show for the feeble minded group that was potentially trying to plot against his own eminence. It wouldn't have been the first time some kind of sabotage such as this had been attempted against his immortal life, and he knew it definitely wasn't going to be the last attempt in the years to come as well. But he was more than prepared to deal with the impending consequences that were sure to follow the fools that would dare to make such plans.

And he was more than eager to be the one responsible for those dire consequences.

Julianna had kept to herself for mostly the entirety of the trip, choosing to walk near the back of the Awakened group to put as much distance possible between herself and Joko. She wasn't too thrilled about being anywhere near the lich after what had transpired during their last conversation. Although once or twice on their journey to the gardens, she had caught Joko looking back as though he was checking to see that she was still tagging along. And after each time she met eyes with him, she had been incredibly tempted to make an ugly face towards him whenever he looked back.

Although when the growing temptation reared its troublesome head, the woman's hands moved upwards to instead rub at the sore skin of her face whenever the desire teased her to do something that foolish so soon again. Feeling the abrasions caused to her cheeks had been a blatant and physical reminder of what was in store had she decided to divulge into immature and impulsive behavior towards the unpredictable lich again.

She instead decided to busy her time by observing the land they traversed through, taking careful detail of the landscape as she hoarded away all that possible information for further use. Her eyes looked around for noticeable landmarks, as she noted that the land within Vabbi was just about the near opposite compared to that of the Desolation. Rather than death and rotting decay laid out upon every which way, Vabbi was instead filled with lush gardens and vegetation. The air was devoid of smelling like sulfur as well, as it instead smelled clean and crisp with hints of bloom wafting through it. It had been a very welcome change after being exposed to the bleak and dreary landscape she had been suffocated within for the past few days.

Utumishi meanwhile was looking over the contents of the letter once more as they traveled to their destination. He walked right alongside Joko at the front of the group, pulling on his dark goatee in deep thought as he was searching for anything that his leader may have missed. Though deep down he knew his leader would have thrown a viable tantrum if he was proven wrong about anything he had already previously surmised about the imposing letter.

It took about half the day for the party to have reached Vabbi and the outer grounds of the Seborhin Gardens. The group now stood before the massive, gates that led into the palace's inner residence. The Awakened group and their two mortal carry-on's were met by a robed servant, patiently standing by and awaiting their arrival near the front of the gates.

"Ah, the magnificent King Joko, you honor us with your arrival", the servant said, bowing his head lowly towards the approaching lich. He was dressed in a deep blue robe, the color and ornaments hanging off from its tassels practically screaming royalty just by its appearance alone. The top of his head remained covered by a drooping hood, giving his face a veiled shadow that covered any noticeable features.

"Where is that bumbling excuse of a Prince who sent me the invitation?" Joko asked quickly, getting straight to the point for their reason of even being here in the first place. He had a continent and possibly more to conquer, and a small hiccup such as this was getting in his way of doing so. "The mutton-head is usually so prompt to meeting me. Which, I don't blame him. But I certainly hope he realizes how impudent his actions are."

The servant seemed to nervously shift from foot to foot as they pulled at the robes around their neck as though it was constricting their airway. "The Prince... is... caught up in other impeding matters at the moment. He sends his regards for not being able to introduce himself like usual."

"More impeding than meeting the likes of our benevolent King Joko?" Utumishi interrupted, stepping into the conversation, crossing his arms across his chest and watching the Vabbian servant with a judgmental look.

The hooded man said nothing more but merely nodded, biting his lower lip.

"Please, if you would follow me", the servant replied, a little too quickly though it went unnoticed by the arriving party. "The Prince has already begun preparing the dinner event for tonight, even though he remains busy. The table is already set for you, my majesty."

Utumishi looked towards Joko for guidance, raising a brow towards the towering undead ruler as he continued to hold the judgmental look upon his face after seeing the servant walk away so swiftly. The adviser could already felt something quite amiss, as none of the Princes, either previous or current, would have failed to greet the magnificent God-King himself.

"Very well then, I anticipated as much", Joko said impassively, his the tone of voice dancing on a fine line between sounding formal and incredibly threatening at the same time. He turned to address his awaiting Awakened soldiers, beckoning for them to follow closely along in the case that anything went awry, which was to be entirely expected now.

The Scourge looked towards the hulking form of the Awakened Abomination that he had brought along for extra measure as well. "You may stay here and guard the gate, my monstrous-looking pet", he ordered, pointing towards the amalgamation of undead parts and embedded weapons. The imposing creature shifted from clawed foot to clawed foot nervously, padding the ground with its huge feet. "We likely will still have need for you later. So do be a good little scout, and uphold a keen sense of your surroundings."

The group then followed after the servant, after leaving behind one of their own to obediently stand guard near the front. Joko and Utumishi kept in the lead as they stepped through the grandiose-looking gates and made their way into the heart of the Palace.

Julianna was in a world of awe as she stepped through the towering archway, her mouth open in admiration as her eyes were met with the impossible looking scenery of the Palace. The area was lush with magnificent foliage and gardens, only propelled further in their appearance by the elegant architecture that made up the encompassing structure stretched out all around her. Planters of varying sizes decorated the numerous pathways, as spiraling staircases and cascading fountains towered above in height. What had been the most incredible, was that platforms seemed to have been floating in the air near the middle of the grounds.

" _Lion's Arch pales in comparison to the beauty of this place..._ ", Julianna thought to herself, walking towards the end of the walkway to peer over the large, rectangular hole open in the middle. It led down towards a pool of crystal-clear looking water adorned with lily pads and other greenery living atop its surface.

The others hadn't paid the healer mind any attention when she shortly diverted away from the group to examine the area with sudden admiration. They continued following after the servant down a series of twisting hallways that led further into the belly of the structure. Eventually she had realized they walked off without her, and she hastily rushed to catch back up to the back of the group once more.

The sound of heavy clawed undead feat pattered noisily within the tight enclosed hallway, masked only by the irregular sound of Joko's staff clanging against the tile whenever the bottom of it struck the floor.

There had been an uncomfortable silence that had fallen over the palace grounds, especially noticeable to those that were familiar with the normality that otherwise loitered around the place. Both Joko and Utumushi had visited the grounds many times before during other social gatherings, but this unpleasant air had felt like an anomaly from what they were used to. Something hadn't felt quite right the second the undead group had even neared the area of the fortified building, and it felt as though there was a loaded spring trap just waiting to be stepped upon as they progressed further and further into the palace.

"My King...", Utumishi said quietly, looking up towards his undead ruler with a concerned look as they progressed towards the supposed dining area. His ruler looked hardly bothered at the possible storm brewing before them, but it was difficult to tell given the impassive face Joko wore most of the time anyway.

When the lich didn't acknowledge him or his comment, the adviser cleared his throat and tried to repeat himself again, as had assumed he had not been heard the first time. "I think-"

"You would doubt me?", Joko swiftly interrupted, still looking forward as the group strode down the hallway. The hooded Vabbian had turned around upon hearing the two and looked to be listening to the two intently.

Utumishi swallowed, his mouth feeling dry as he simply nodded. He needed to place trust within his esteemed God-King, as he was quite sure Joko must have known what was going on the before they had even walked into the Gardens.

The incredibly short man looked back towards the wayward healer, who was still hanging out near the back of the group. She hadn't been paying their conversation any mind, as she instead seemed to be intently focused on all the pictures and decoration that were passing by on the walls. He clicked his tongue, shaking his head upon seeing the woman was none the wiser to the situation at hand, and even less of what was likely going to transpire at any given moment.

Utumishi reckoned her lack of complacency and awareness to surroundings was still something that needed to be desperately worked upon.

It wasn't long before the group made their way into the dining hall area. The room was overly large and spacious, as it would have allowed for numerous amounts of servants to come and go as they pleased with their opulent trays of food and beverage. The space was encompassed by an open balcony on one side, which opened up to look out into the exquisite outdoor grounds. Intricately tiled columns stood guard in each corner, as the ceiling was decorated with billowing ribbon and curtains that looked like a complex labyrinth of cloth carefully waved in and out through each other.

Within the middle of the room, sat a long and well decorated table that was fitted with a dark blue tablecloth. Expensive looking dinnerware already sat upon its surface, as it was a clear indication that only the finest of crystal had been brought out for the special occasion.

"I suppose we should have prepared more seats...", the masked Vabbian said, a hint of nervous tone within his voice as he looked at the entourage of undead soldiers spreading out into the room. "Our greatest apologies, had we known in advance that you were bringing more guests, we could have prepared better."

Joko dismissively waved the foreboding comment away as he carefully leaned his staff against the chair seated at the head of the table before seating himself. If his prediction had been correct about this leading into a trap, which he greatly assumed it had given the numerous amounts of suspicious hints already laid out before him, then such a matter would have proven trivial. He let out a relieved sigh, as though being seated within the plush, comfortable chair was actually an alleviation towards his old weathered bones.

He laced his pointed claws underneath his chin, resting his elbows atop the armrests as he patiently waited for the next scene of this criminal ensemble number.

The rest of his Awakened soldiers took the silent message to proceed forward as well, as they took their places at the open seats awaiting them. Those that couldn't attain a seat quickly enough, instead placed themselves to stand guard around various points of the room. Utumishi had expectantly sat himself down at the open seat next to his undead leader, sitting on the left side as per usual.

The lich's ruler's brow furrowed together in sudden confusion when he looked to the right of him and saw a still empty seat. An annoyed growl resonated deep within his throat, and he leaned forward in his chair, gripping the ends of the rests as he craned his body to turn around and the see expected form of his healer still stubbornly standing near the archway. He should have expected as much from her at this point.

He sized her up, pointing an expecting finger towards the seat next to him in an wordless response to beckon the bothersome woman over to where she needed to be.

"Grawl hair...", she muttered under her breath, the familiar feel of fear bubbling up again as it rose rapidly. She was hoping that perhaps he wouldn't have noticed she chose to linger back near the exit instead of sitting down, but she should have known better.

But Julianna didn't want to elicit a scene from the impatient ruler after she was still struggling to wrap her head around what had recently transpired between the two of them back at the Bone Palace, so she hesitantly made her way towards the open chair. She fiddled with the ring on her finger as she walked over, keeping her eyes locked with anything else but his intimidating form as she knew he was intently watching her with a scrutinizing glare.

She sat down, clasping her hands together in her lap as she looked up to meet Utumishi's own grinning face staring right back at her from across the table. The woman's fear ebbed away upon seeing his hyena like-knowing grin again, and she fought hard against saying or doing anything remotely immature to the deplorable man, even though the ambition to was stronger than ever.

"Well then, where is our lovely Prince?" Joko asked after his healer had been seated next to him. He returned back to leaning in his chair as his hands returned back to the former location under his chin. "I do hope he won't be missing this supposed dinner he must have planned so carefully. He had sounded so... urgent within his letter too."

"He's still... preoccupied", the hooded figure replied. He looked down towards the opposite hallway where a number of other servants were coming forward with covered, silver plates. He clicked his tongue, knowing what was about to come.

Joko hummed to himself out loud, a seemingly innocent gesture. "Ah, I see. Truly no bother then. I can wait. After all, I have an eternity."

The other servants walked into the room, standing around in various locations as they spread themselves out.

"Ah, but unfortunately for you, that is where you are wrong... _lich_ ", the masked servant said, his tone now sounding more dangerous as his lips curled back in pure hatred. He reached into the confines of his robes, pulling out a curved blade as he pointed it towards his target seated at the head of the table.

"Tonight, we are here to put a stop to your tyranny once and for all", the agent continued, looking around as the other members of his order disguised as palace servants opened the plates to reveal hidden weapons laying upon them as they quickly equipped themselves.

The Order of Shadows was a secretive group of assassins and information gatherers. They were a recently divided splinter faction, deriving from the Order of Whispers. While still on the cusps of deciphering what their group stood for, the agents were already working diligently to preserve the knowledge and history within the lands of Elona as it was slowly being twisted and corrupted by none other than Palawa Joko himself. They also worked to prevent dangerous politics from getting out of hand, which was proving to become more difficult as the Awakened forces only continued to grow impossibly stronger since bodies were effortlessly cut down and brought back into the land of the living to be used in the lich's cause.

While the Master of their order had stated that directly going after Joko would prove to be nothing but immediate trouble, a few dozen yet brave members sought to prove their leader wrong. The naive yet determined group had banded together, desperate to seek the death of the Scourge as they knew it had to be done before things became irreversibly worse.

And it was now they were here, standing with weapons drawn towards the very being they sought to destroy.

Joko merely let out an amused laugh towards the display, the sound echoing throughout the room and chilling the would-be assassins to the bone. He leaned forward in his chair once more, his tone taking on to that of something dark and truly terrifying. "Ah, just exactly what I was expecting then. Though I must say, for a group that associates themselves with shadows, you certainly disappointed me with your feeble attempt with this ensemble."

In a matter of mere seconds, all hell broke loose in the dining hall.


	10. Supposed Dinner Plans

**I keep forgetting this: I don't own anything except for my OC.**

 **Update:** Just updates. Tiny fixes. There's also a Disney reference in here if any of you caught it. ;)

 _xxx_

 _In a matter of mere seconds, all hell broke loose in the dining hall._

xxx

Julianna Fyre felt helpless in that moment, as she panicked and didn't know what to do with the sudden explosive situation at hand. She had previously worked behind the scenes at the small-time clinic back in Lion's Arch and as such, engaging in a full out battle was not something she was experienced within. Troubled memories came flooding back to when she had been taken along as a volunteer shortly after her arrival to Kamadan during their call of need for immediate menders and healers. It had been all too similar even back then, being thrust into an unfamiliar situation and trying to heal Sunspear soldiers as they were mercilessly cut down right before her eyes.

The scared-looking woman felt as though she was watching her own body from someone else's perspective. But the moment of confusion was interrupted when a small scream erupted from her mouth upon seeing a dagger whiz dangerously close by her head, missing her face by just a few inches.

The Awakened had already jumped into the action, as weapons were unsheathed from their holsters and their owners had moved with a newfound frenzy of blood lust. The once premature grandiose dinner party had quickly turned into a bloody war zone between the Awakened and the once-disguised Order of Shadows members. The noise of plates and fine dinnerware falling from the table shattered to the ground and furniture was splintered, as the hulking masses of Awakened soldiers barreled through them without care to get to their targets.

Joko stood from the head of the table in an sudden fit of outrage for the blatant audacity of those plotting against his own eminence. His chair fell backwards to the ground noisily as he pointed an armored digit towards the group of would-be assassins.

"Kill these insolent fools! Drown this room in their blood and leave no survivors as none shall be spared the gratitude of being brought back to serve within my own army", Joko ordered, his loud voice booming against the walls of the room.

The Order of Shadows Agents had already moved themselves into organized positions throughout the room, as they called out incoming targets to each other and launched their own assault. Daggers flew threw through the air in every direction as they were aimed with precision towards their undead targets. Yells of battle cries and anger quickly flooded the room as the two groups launched themselves towards each other.

Still panicking and not knowing what else to do in the sudden heat of battle, Julianna scrambled to get underneath the table for some place of momentary safety. If sharp deadly weapons were being thrown around, then she at least knew she needed to get out of the line of fire. As she knelt down to hide, she felt a dull pang hit her shoulder before the area quickly began to throb with a dull burn. She ignored the sudden pain for the time being, panic telling her to just get away from the scene as quickly as possible right now.

"Imp gall, imp gall, imp gall...", she cursed over and over again to herself as she crawled underneath and pulled her legs away from the outside area of the temporary shelter.

Julianna looked out to observe the obstructed view of the carnage from the temporary safety of her current hiding place. In just a matter of mere seconds, the room had detonated into a boisterous clash of weapons and yelling. She watched from her obscured point of view as the hustled feet and knees of both the living and the undead Awakened scrambled around in the chaos, both parties attacking each other as blades struck loudly against each other.

In mere moments, the overwhelming sound of incoming thunder could be heard as the Awakened Abomination that had been traveling with the Awakened brigand, came barreling down the hallway to join in the skirmish as it had heard its master call to arms. The terrible amalgamation barely fit through the tight space as it bumped into sparse furniture and picture frames without any care as they broke into shattered pieces on the floor of the corridor. Once the creature was in the large dining room with the rest of its undead kin, it reared back and let out a bone chilling roar that terrified all of the still living denizens within it, including those that were hiding underneath furniture.

The other Awakened raised their weapons and shouted together in unison upon seeing their reinforcement.

As for the Orders of Shadows agents, their faces turned to sheer dread upon seeing the terrible amalgamation of flesh and embedded weapons that had somehow found its way to them.

Julianna couldn't believe that the monster had gotten through the Palace and actually made its way here so quickly. Her hands flew towards her ears in an attempt to block the screams of innocent men and woman as the Awakened Abomination threw itself into the fray and began ripping into the delicate flesh of its foes. The brave group of assassins stood no chance against both the relentless undead monster and the other attacking cadavers that had nothing else to live for other than to serve their eminence, Palawa Joko.

It was safe enough to say that the Order of Shadows had bit off far more than they could chew during this dinner party assassination attempt. They realized too late that their Master had been correct about trying to go after Palawa Joko.

After the Abomination had let out its piercing roar and begun its assault, Julianna's hands slowly left her ears and she winced as the choir of slaughtered screams assaulted her eardrums once again. She fought with her own morale decision to abandon her hiding place so she could go and try to help the other still living humans. But she knew there was little hope for both her and the agents if she made that foolhardy attempt.

The healer suddenly hissed through her teeth as the burning pain in her upper shoulder was now increasing in unavoidable intensity. The stark reality of her problem had been momentarily pushed aside during her unreasonable need to watch the sword laden Abomination jump into the battle.

Another wave of burning pain assaulted her upper arm and she recoiled again, clenching her teeth as she decided to finally address what the cause of pain was. She twisted her neck down awkwardly, looking down to see the hilt of a dagger embedded into her shoulder blade. It felt as though her stomach had dropped into her feet when she took notice of the weapon jutting out of her torn coat, and she wondered how on Tyria she hadn't noticed the dagger until now.

"Curse my hide to the Mists and back...", she muttered as she shakily brought a hand towards the obtrusive object. She could see a growing, stained ring of red around the cloth from where the weapon had entered her body. With a shaky hand, she pushed at the handle of the embedded dagger, her brows knit with newfound worry when she could feel how ingrained the blade was into her muscle.

Her panic was interrupted when the body of an Order of Shadows agent fell to the ground close to the table next to her, and Julianna let out a yelp of fright. Brown orbs met with the frozen expression of shock etched onto the fallen assassin's face as he vacantly stared back as a now lifeless husk.

She could feel bile rise at the back of her throat, and she swallowed it back down and did her best to ignore the sight just a few feet away from her.

"Put these assassins down like the lowly dogs they are!", Joko shouted from above the table as he continued with the offensive. He had been casting necromantic spells towards the enemy as the dark magic shot out from his staff towards its victims. Any foe that was unlucky to have been caught in its path was emblazoned with a flurry of black encompassing magic eating away at the flesh of its victim.

The woman under the table meanwhile struggled to keep her composure as she turned back away from the fallen man next to her, trying to get over the fact there was now a dead body still lifelessly staring at her in a helpless plea. She knew there were probably going to be many others that would soon join their guild mate and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

"I... I have to...small victories... first", she whispered to herself, trying to move onto more pressing matters rather than the livelihood of others. For once, she couldn't allow her bleeding heart to take control of her actions.

Julianna knew from own medical expertise that the wound would continually get worse if it wasn't taken out immediately. And judging by the increasing red ring of blood soaked into her clothes, she knew it meant the injury was bleeding at an alarming rate, even with the weapon blocking off an escape for the blood.

She tightly gripped the handle of the dagger, holding her breath and wincing when she could feel how the weapon was neatly embedded in between the bones of her scapula and clavicle. She cursed the person that had thrown the damnable thing, knowing it had been thrown with clear expertise and skill. The healer closed her eyes tightly, wishing for the moment to be over quickly as she struggled to pull the damnable object out from her body.

The shoe was on the other foot now as the doctor was playing the role of patient as well.

Biting her lip, she finally ripped the dagger from her body, crying out in pain as the serrated edges of the weapon ripped muscle from being so quickly released from its temporary fleshy scabbard. The dagger clattered to the floor noisily as her free hand now flew back towards the area it had just come from.

Julianna pressed down on the area of flayed skin, frowning when she could feel the warm liquid of blood pooling out from between her fingers. She was struggling to keep herself rightly composed after the ordeal of having to remove the dagger so hastily. Working on patients came second nature to her at this point, but working on herself was not something she was too entirely familiar with, and she had never suffered a wound like this to her own body.

She hardly flinched this time when the sound of another body falling lifelessly to the ground sounded nearby her.

"Continue to press on with our assault!" Joko bellowed from above. "We'll teach these shameful mongrels about what happens when they dare raise a weapon to their beloved God-King."

The small time-medic was hardly focused on the outside battle anymore as she looked down at the her blood soaked hand before she replaced it to apply pressure on the open wound again. She knew the wound was bleeding very quickly, which she surmised it was due to the fact that her subclavian artery could have been very well punctured or torn. If the wound wasn't healed soon, then she knew that she could easily succumb to passing out on the floor from blood loss.

And eventual death.

"Dwayna, please give me guidance...", she mumbled, praying to one of The Six Gods to help her in this time of dire need.

She had only dealt with the infected skale bites and occasional scrapes and cuts during the recent time when she still lived in Lion's Arch. The worst she had dealt with was when a pirate had been brought to her with a rib cage littered with pieces of broken shrapnel from a navy battle that had taken her hours to remove. There hadn't been too much blood, as the pieces removed only left small cuts which were quickly healed.

As such, dealing with a potentially fatal wound on herself of all people was bringing her a level of stress she had never experienced before.

A dull blue light encased the medic's blood covered hand as the healer begin to try and cast a healing spell to mend together the lacerated skin and muscle. But unfortunately the light of the spell had disappeared as quickly as it had come. It continued to flicker on and off again, as its caster struggled to maintain it towards successful completion.

"Fine, curse the Six then... why can't...", Julianna cried out, tears stinging at the corners of her eyes as she couldn't find the concentration from her shot nerves to try and cast a healing spell. Her hand was shaking far too much now, and she could barely keep hold on the wound to prevent more blood from spilling out from the open laceration.

The stress of everything that had happened thus far since her departure to Elona was suddenly hitting her at the worst possible time, as the dam of overflowing emotions suddenly broke all at once during the middle of her dire time.

The noise around the room hadn't haltered in the slightest, but it was evident that more and more bodies of Order of Shadows continued to fall while the Awakened pressed on with their counterattack. The Awakened obviously had the upper hand, and they were clearly winning as bodies from the Order of Shadow agents continued to stain the floor of the once pristine-looking dining hall.

The woman felt a dangerous combination of frustration and panic welling up, as the action of trying to cast a simple spell that should have normally come easily for her had now become the most difficult of tasks. She had been so caught up in her own panic, that she hadn't even noticed the surrounding noise die down as the battle winded down to an almost a sudden halt. There were only two remaining Order of Shadows agents left, and one was already gravely wounded as his peer struggled to hold him upright.

"Grab the last two remaining fools and keep them alive", Joko ordered, going back on his word of eradicating everyone upon seeing the battle had finally come to and end. He looked down at a felled body next to him and kicked it with a disgusted-looking face. "I wish to have a short word with them."

There was a click of heels against the tile flooring as a familiar person returned from the their escape into the nearby hallway. The person let out a hum of dissatisfied noise as they looked around.

"Well, that was...expected", Utumishi commented as he walked into the once pristine dining hall and carefully stepped over a random body. "It certainly confirmed your suspicions about the obvious trap set in motion by the Order of Shadows agents, my King. Do you suppose the Prince had planned this against you?"

"No, I would imagine our real one is simply tied up and hidden away somewhere in the Palace grounds, as he wouldn't dare to willingly work alongside these maggots.", Joko replied simply, quickly looking around the room to check over if there had been any casualties on his side of the battle. He hardly spared a glance to his head of civil governance as the man came to stand next to him.

Nearby, two Awakened warriors had roughly grabbed hold of the shoulders from the last two remaining Order of Shadows agents and brought them forward towards their undead ruler. The men hardly fought against the walls of muscle pulling them along, accepting defeat as they saw there was little hope left for them anymore.

"How trivial that your pathetic little group of assassins would dare try to eliminate the great Palawa Joko", the undead monarch began, standing upright as he looked down at the two quivering mortals that had been forced to kneel before him. His voice held a light tone of casual banter, as though it was a seemingly normalized conversation.

Joko continued, a deceitful grin stretched across his face. "As such, I would wish for you both to relay a message back to your leader, whomever that may be. You can tell them of the carnage you witnessed today, and of the consequences that occurred for trying to strike me down."

The two Orders of Shadows agents merely nodded in acceptance, knowing full well there would be nothing good for them if they were to decline the offer. It seemed for them that Joko was being unusually merciful, and they would take that offer more than willingly if it meant they could escape with their lives still intact.

"Go then, hastily retreat back to the cave from whence you crawled out from", Joko concluded, pointing a clawed finger down the exiting hallway as his dark eyes narrowed. "Be sure to include all of the casualties caused today from this mishap and make sure it is to never happen again, unless we would like to indulge ourselves into another repeat of what occurred today."

The two men nodded before hurriedly taking off down the hallway, one of the two running with a slight limp from his injuries.

Joko watched them, absentmindedly scratching at his neck and seemingly in deep thought as he watched the retreating backs of the two Order of Shadows agents pathetically fleeing from his sight.

"Someone entertain me, how many men does it require to deliver a message?" Joko suddenly asked out loud, not even bothering to turn and address the Awakened archer next to him who had already seemed to have gotten the message loud and clear. His voice was now devoid of any emotion, returning back to the brutal tenacity and spiteful personality that he usually wore.

Said undead archer had prepared an arrow from his quiver and lined up a shot as he carefully aimed the weapon towards back of the retreating enemy.

"Just one, my king", the Awakened archer answered as he let the arrow fly with precision and expertise.


	11. Blood Magic

**I don't own anything except for my OC.**

 **Update:** Just fixes.

xxx

 _Said undead archer had prepared an arrow from his quiver and lined up a shot as he carefully aimed the weapon towards back of the retreating enemy._

 _"Just one, my king", the Awakened archer answered as he let the arrow fly with precision and expertise._

xxx

Palawa Joko stood near one of the large archways leading into the room, watching as his Awakened soldiers moved about the room and checked over the corpses while they were pocketing anything useful that they may have found upon the very recent dead. The brooding lich's arms were crossed across his gilded chest, his decorated staff now propped back up against the now-upright chair again. He sighed exasperatedly, the large skull-decorated pauldrons moving up and down with the action.

The room was mostly quiet now, save for the shuffling of undead feet upon tile as the Awakened forces moved about the open space. It was near opposite in comparison of the noise level that had erupted from the battle within the large room just mere minutes ago. There was little care from the troops as they continually stepped over limbs into the warm puddles of blood that had pooled beneath the many bodies of the Order of Shadows agents. Because of their carelessness of where they were walking, the tile was now a giant cluster of red footprints that were staining nearly every inch of the once-pristine and clean looking floor. Trails of red seemed to lead outward from every exit of the room.

"Whoever is responsible for cleaning up this mess is going to be in for a real treat", Joko mused to himself out loud, waving an expressive clawed hand through the air. A cheeky-looking grin formed on his face as he pictured some poor sod spending hours trying to clean up all the blood. The ornaments on his head costume chimed as they clattered against one another while he looked around at all the red stains and his crude smile grew almost impossibly wide. He took great joy in imaging the apparent suffering of others, even if it was something as menial as a chore-like task.

There were still a few of his Awakened lingering about the dining room, as most had been ordered away throughout the Gardens of Seborhin in search for the bumbling fool of a Prince. It was long ago surmised that he had been tied up by the would-be assassins sometime before their arrival, and the noble had likely been hidden away somewhere for safe keeping.

Grand Vizier Utumishi had also been sent along with the rescue party in search of the Prince, as the squeamish adviser had been more than happy to have escaped the scene of carnage that was now the dining room.

Joko was just hoping the important blockhead was still alive.

Simply because he was growing tired and impatient of having to replace the idiots once every couple of months.

The undead ruler continued looking about the room, pleased to see that there had hadn't been any casualties on his side. Though of course, he wouldn't have expected anything less from his brutish forces. His dark blue eyes scanned the fallen dead, narrowing slightly at the poor example of yet another band of idiots that had tried to assassinate his immortal greatness. The Sunspears in their prior attempt back in Istan had just been naive and foolish, that much had been a given. But he had been expecting something better from the secretive group, given his past dealings with them. He assumed they would not have chosen to attempt something so brash given they were on the more logical side of things.

He shook his head, concluding that it mattered little now considering the assassins were merely fodder for both worms and scarabs alike.

"Do you think that'll heal up on its own?" an Awakened brute suddenly asked from the opposite side of the room.

Joko's eyes shifted over to where the source of the noise came from, seeing that a couple of the Awakened warriors that had been left behind were seated at the opposite side of the long dining table.

The two brutes were looking over some concerning-looking wounds on both of their arms. The one that had spoken aloud was currently poking around at the flayed flesh as though it would somehow mend back together on its own through his sheer willpower. Both injuries looked to have been endlessly oozing out a black iridescent substance, which meant it would require immediate mending.

If the wounds had been small enough, they would have easily closed up given the thick substance of tar that held their cadaver-like bodies together in their state of post-mortem reawakening. Their skin was tough enough already through prolonged age and wear, and it took a great amount of force to deal enough crippling damage to a body that was already dead. But if the wounds were proven dire enough, they could potentially be fatal as they would endlessly drain out the black iridescent substance if they were not dealt with appropriately.

"Probably not, but especially not if you keep poking it like that", the other Awakened answered, a concerned look on his face for his friend. "There's bound to be tar-soaked bandages packed away somewhere in the supplies we brought. I'm sure someone must have brought some along."

Joko's impassive looking face developed into a deep frown, realizing then as he observed the scene that his new healer should have already been doing her job.

" _That was if she had any sense of notion to do what her job had actually entailed_ ", he thought. He uncrossed his arms, looking around the messy, blood soaked room again for any sign of the bothersome yet familiar curly blonde head of hair. Part of him was expecting to find the near-useless mortal face down in a pool of her own blood as she had been unwillingly caught in the crossfire of the skirmish.

"Where's that damnable woman?" he asked to no one in particular as he continued scanning the room among the fallen bodies of the Order of Shadows agents.

The two seated Awakened had looked up from the inspection of their wounds, raising confused brows towards their ruler who now seemed to be flitting around about something they were unaware of.

There had been a near invisible pang of uneasiness from the lich, which was mostly overshadowed by frustration as the possibility came forward that Julianna Fyre may as well have been among the dead. But if that were the case and her body could be found, then there was always the possibility of just simply Awakening her to his cause.

Much like Utumishi had already suggested to him time and time again.

But while Joko could have just have easily Awakened her disposed corpse to be an unquestioning loyal servant to his cause, an undead healer was far less effective with their healing magic ability compared to that of a still-living one. Healing magic had long-since been determined to have been a divine skill, and as such, it's effectiveness was nearly halved when the user was unjustly brought back into the world of the living again. And while the powerful Scourge had dismissed such supposed and divine entities to be insurmountably stupid, he figured the concept was really just due to the finicky and unpredictable nature of magic.

Which unfortunately for the long-standing and powerful ruler, meant that he would still need to go recruit another would-be-hero after already recently acquiring an incredibly stubborn yet almost semi-decent one. It wasn't an impossible or even difficult task for him to attain, but he had enough on his plate to deal with given his main priority was to continue manipulating and ruling a region under his tar-stained thumb.

And if petty assassination attempts upon his immortal life continued to be a regularity within his schedule, then it proposed even more of a potential bother. Having a still-living healer to work for him had been a small bonus if anything else. There was nothing of great importance if it was suddenly lost though.

Joko's ears suddenly picked up on the faint sound of an immature, muttered curse from somewhere within the room. Recognition dawned on him that the only one responsible for such a thing would have been the very person he was seeking out.

"If you're still alive Julianna Fyre, then you have less than five seconds to show yourself before I quickly remedy that", Joko spat aloud, the cruel threat in his gravely voice unmistakably clear. He knew the bizarre quip of profanity couldn't have come from anyone except her.

There was another string of curses as the small woman slowly came crawling out from underneath the long dining table, sniffling along the way as she struggled to compose herself again.

Julianna had dreaded hearing the intimidating ruler's commanding voice ordering her to come out from her hiding place. While she realized long ago already that the gruesome battle had been overwhelmingly won by the Awakened, she had refused to come out from the table because of her obvious show of incompetence.

She had felt more vulnerable than she ever had before, since she should have easily been able to mend the dangerous injury caused from the crossfire of a dagger being thrown into her shoulder. The last thing she had wanted during her current state of turmoil, was to have a confrontation with the deplorable cadaver-like being that had been responsible for her life's recent, and questionably terrible change.

But she also knew she couldn't stay underneath the table forever, though she had certainly tried.

After emerging from underneath the furniture, the woman moved to stand back up to her full height, but she staggered. She blinked rapidly as dots clouded the edge of her vision, and she brought one of her hands to the back of the closest chair as she steadied herself rightly. The lightheaded feeling had returned in full-force now, and she wasn't sure if it was from pure fear of being near Joko again, or because of the blood loss she was likely experiencing.

Julianna's other blood caked hand flew back up towards the open wound on her shoulder when she could feel a pulse of warm blood erupt outwards and she frowned, still trying to blink away the dots.

"I can't heal this...", she said quietly, her voice barely audible and above a mere whisper as she forced herself to address what was wrong with her. Her eyes looked to the distant wall behind the lich's head, willing herself to look anywhere but his face like she had before in times of similar situations.

"You're bleeding and in shock. It happens", Joko replied simply, rolling his eyes as his tone sounded flat and unamused. He held out an expected hand towards her, beckoning her closer with a pointed finger. "Now then, come here before I change my mind."

The healer's eyes widened a fraction and then locked with his own. She stubbornly stayed rooted at the same spot from where she had crawled out from, decidedly not moving an inch forward closer to the undead ruler who still held out an awaiting hand. She may have obediently followed his request the last time he had beckoned to her like this, but she wasn't as compliant now.

She couldn't piece together what his intentions currently were, as part of her mind was trying to tell her this was nothing but a clever ruse from the terrifying being. For all she knew, the second she moved forward, he could decide to cast a dark incantation of a necromantic spell and turn her into another pitiful stain on the floor. Possibly worse, was that he was about to turn her into an Awakened soldier for his growing undead army the second she got within range.

Julianna felt like she couldn't think or process her thoughts rationally, which she knew from her own medical expertise was likely because of how lightheaded she currently felt. But rational or not, she also knew from own personal experiences that the person in front of her was often unpredictable and incredibly dangerous.

And she was still utterly terrified of him, with good reason.

Joko would have pinched the bridge of his nose in sheer frustration if he had one, which instead left him to pinch the middle of his brow. He was in disbelief that of all times to continue her stubborn behavior, the bothersome woman chose to do so now when she was in danger of bleeding out on the floor.

"Do you wish for your wound to be healed, or not? I certainly have no opposition in letting you slowly succumbing to a death due to blood loss", Joko continued, the impatience rising in his tone as his gravely voice rose an octave. "Perhaps then you might actually be useful after I decide to return you from death as an Awakened."

The last comment seemed to have gotten through to the woman's headstrong reasoning and she swallowed, before slowly walking towards the Scourge himself. She had been completely unaware that he could have even possessed such abilities up until now, but she still felt incredibly apprehensive about walking into what felt like the potential gaping maw of a predator. She didn't fully trust his actions, especially knowing that his profession was directly linked to death and as such, healing magic of any form seemed highly unlikely.

Before she even had the time to mull over the topic even further as she hesitantly approached, Joko took the opening strike to move forward with quickened haste. His tar stained hand reached out to grab one of own her blood stained wrists as he roughly pulled her forward to so he could quicken the imminent task. His hearing had hardly registered the small squeak of protest as he grabbed hold of her other uninjured shoulder with his other unoccupied hand and kept her pinned in place so he could begin working upon the injury.

Julianna turned her head away, trying to keep her face of disgust hidden away from the egotistical ruler. Her her head felt even more clouded and fuzzy than before in that moment, and she wanted the task to be over as quickly as possibly allowed.

A deep chuckle resonated from within Joko's chest as he could feel the woman's uncovered skin on her arm prickle and rise with goose flesh. It was quite evident his healer still did a poor job at physically hiding away her fear of him, even when she foolishly tried to put on a brave, and naive bravado. His grip on both her shoulder and wrist remained firm and steady, and he reveled upon feeling the delicate skin threaten to break underneath his hold so soon again.

As a powerful being that had been around for far longer than what should have been physically capable, pain was a sensation that had long since been lost. Palawa Joko's transformation into his lich-like state of being had come with minor inconsequential drawbacks. Sensations such as the of feeling pain caused to one's body had been forgotten, and so the desperation of yearning for such a piquant yet vulnerable state could only be derived by living it through another. In a strange sense, it had bestowed upon him the role of being a masochist, though it was an impossible goal for him to attain given his lack of ability to even feel any sense of pain at this point.

With the woman's dwindling state given the pulsating well of blood embedded into her shoulder, it was more than evident she had been in a delicious combination of both fear and pain. Joko was more than greedy in stealing that gratifying satisfaction upon seeing her pained features, as he longed to feel the same amount of pain she was currently going through.

But the undead God-King would never personally dwell on the jealous matter for long, and he concluded it was always better to give than to receive anyway.

He surmised that the sooner he finished this job of mending his healer's wound, than the sooner he could return to finding the whereabouts of the Vabbian prince. Though it wasn't to say he would still take some of the time to enjoy the current predicament.

"Grawl hair...", Julianna mumbled under her breath once she was standing still again. The towering person in front of her seemed not to care about her remark as he examined the wound on her shoulder with great interest.

As she was left to her doctor's mercy, she could feel that familiar bubble of fear creeping up from within her stomach as she realized she was standing so closely next to the supposed God-King again. She felt incredibly small beneath his much taller stature, given he had at least of head of height above her. The recognizable stench of decay masked with an expensive fragrance assaulted her nostrils again, and it made her nose wrinkle with disgust as per usual. But she did little to hide it this time as she figured he was too interested in the flayed flesh upon her shoulder anyway.

Joko meanwhile was keeping a tight grip on her other arm while he used his busy hand to peel away the blood soaked fabric sticking the woman's skin around the wound. While his mouth seemed to have always been in a frown given the large ring embedded into his lower lip, it seemed to have somehow moved downward even more when he saw the amount of blood seeping out of the laceration.

Rather than having immediate concern cross the undead ruler's mind, his face was riddled with clear annoyance as his brows drew closely together and his eyes darkened. The lich had nearly forgotten how necessary a material like blood was for a still-living body.

"Fah! And I still have those that would question why I use a more reliable material such as tar to hold together my Awakened", Joko mused out loud, more so to himself than to his patient. With curiosity, his armored digits dug around into the lacerated skin as he observed the injury more closely and moved the flayed bits of skin and flesh around to get a better judgement of things. His patient tried to writhe away in obvious discomfort, but the iron-like vice he still was using kept her still.

The healer meanwhile was left to his mercy and she watched with nervous trepidation as her doctor finally relinquished his digits from the bleeding flesh. Her eyes widened in sudden horror when a black like mist suddenly enveloped his hand and instincts were now screaming at her to move away as far as possible. She figured nothing could bode well when a spell that looked like that.

Joko just grunted in clear annoyance when the person in his grasp suddenly pulled on his hold and had tried to wrench her arm away from him. He retaliated the action by digging his pointed fingers into the soft flesh and his grip only increased in ferocity when she didn't immediately stop.

"Cease your meddlesome movements woman!", he chided, glaring daggers at his restless patient. Once she was settled again, he quickly finished the incantation of a simple blood magic spell, watching with feigned interest as the wound quickly closed back up while the mist moved downward and danced in and out of the torn muscle.

He continued speaking. "Death and blood magic do have their perks when it comes to regeneration", he said while watching the injury quickly mend and stitch back together. "Though I'm not partial to using such feeble magic unless absolutely called upon. Hence, why I have underlings such as you to play that role of medic for my armies."

Julianna had remained stubbornly silent, ignoring the obvious dig towards her and instead examining how the dark magic had mended back her torn flesh while leaving behind a dark blotted mass of color atop her now healed injury. The spell had finished just as quickly as it had been cast, and the dark mist that had been surrounding her skin soon dissipated entirely. Her once concerned looking face had turned into surprise as she observed the effectiveness of her healed wound, though her previous lightheartedness was lingering behind.

"A simple solution for a simple problem", Joko concluded, his voice sounding bored as he relinquished his spell casting hand while the other remained holding tight onto her shoulder. His face held sudden curiosity as he watched the healer's face go through a multitude of different emotions in but a short few seconds.

Julianna simply blinked, her eyebrows raising upward as her mouth opened and quickly closed again as she bit her tongue from saying anything brash that would get her into trouble. She had an indefinite amount of questions for him now, considering they both shared some type of ability in healing magic. And while it hadn't yet relinquished much of her fear of him, it had allowed some bizarre sense of connection seeing how they both had skills that could be used for the betterment of others.

Though for one of them, she knew it was very often not the case.

"Thank you...", she finally muttered. It felt wrong to have thanked the terrible lich for his help, but she also knew she would have been left for dead to bleed out on the floor underneath the dining room table had he not intervened when he did.

She was about to saying something more, but was interrupted by a new booming voice that had erupted into the room.

"Oh, the glorious and magnificent Palawa Joko!" said a round, chubby and balding man. He was nearly screeching as he walked into the room and seemed to have no sense of voice control. The man was dressed in ornate and expensive looking clothing, as various jewels and gilded ornaments of all sizes hung were strewn all around his attire. "You couldn't imagine how surprised I was to have learned that it was you to have saved me from those dreadful Order of Shadows Agents!"

"My lord, I beg the sudden interruption", Utumishi said, the adviser peeking out from behind the loud ensemble of a man. He cleared his throat before nodding to the Elonian noble in front of him. "We happened upon the Prince, safe and intact much to our relief."

Joko hadn't even realized he had still been holding onto his healer's other arm upon the sudden interruption, and he quickly let go as though the physical action had burned him. He turned to address the new company within the room, now ignoring Julianna's presence as if she wasn't even standing right next to him anymore.

"Ah, you truly know how to flatter a lich! But I am amused to see our bumbling Prince is still among those of the living", he boasted towards the man, stretching his arms outward in a welcoming gesture. "I would imagine yourself feeling quite thankful, considering your pathetic hide was only saved by my own-doing."

"B-but of course, your majesty!" the Prince replied shakily, walking into the room a little less than enthusiastically now. He fiddled with his many ring covered fingers nervously, swallowing hard as the strong smell of blood and death of those littering the floor suddenly hit his sense of smell. He brought a brightly dyed handkerchief to his nose. "My servants and I are in your eternal gratitude, my grace. Please, allow us to make-up for the invited dinner you were originally supposed to attend."

Joko scratched his chin in thought, as he mulled over the proposition. Ideally, he would have liked to finish up things as quickly as possibly in the Gardens of Seborhin and return back to the Bone Palace with haste. With the Prince being found intact and alive, had meant there was nothing more keeping both him and his Awakened forces bound here. But if an extravagant dinner and drink was possibly being proposed, then it was causing him to have second thoughts. Undead or not, the lich never hesitated in shamelessly indulging himself with such favorable experiences.

"P-please, my king", the Prince continued when he didn't immediately receive a response. "I insist! If you would like, I would invite you to the wine cellar of the Palace, as I remember hearing you've been there before. I believe some of your favorite drink is stored away there."

"You mean the bottles saved from the very shores of Orr itself?" Joko asked, raising an inquisitive brow hidden beneath his headdress. The wine had been an incredibly rare commodity, and was only saved for the rarest of occasions. He had nearly forgotten that there hadn't even been a single bottle of it stored away back at the Bone Palace.

"But of course!" the Prince happily said back, his previous nervous tone to seeming to disappear. He moved his hand to replace back the handkerchief to the confines of his robes again.

The undead ruler looked from the Prince's overly excited face, then to Utumishi who was patiently waiting behind him with an scrutinizing glare. Sunken-looking eyes then darted back towards where his healer was still standing just a few feet away from him. He realized shortly after turning to her, that she had quickly glanced over at something as though she had been caught in another fit of her unrealized staring. The lich merely shook his head at her reddened face, not thinking anything more of it.

"You can prepare a dinner for my two wretched little minions here", Joko said, motioning his hand to the only other two mortals in the room, besides the Prince himself. He then moved to go retrieve his staff that had remained propped up against the chair near the head of the table. "Although, I will take you up on the gratuitous offer of a tour to the Palace's well-guarded wine cellar. And I do hope you wouldn't mind in allowing my other Awakened forces to come along for such revelry as well."

"Not... at all", the Prince said, though there was an unsteadiness to his voice. Truth be told, he wasn't sure if even the well-stocked cellar would house enough strong drink to serve that many guests. But he wasn't about to deny the pressuring ruler from something he wanted.

That much would have been an obvious death sentence.

"I'll notify my servants to start working on a dinner for your two friends here, and also about... cleaning up this... mess", the Prince replied with lack of certainty before turning back around to head down the hallway from where he came. He began obnoxiously shouting out orders down the hallway, as any nearby servants that had been listening had quickly gotten the message and were already moving to spread the news to others.

Joko crossed the threshold of the room once he had acquired his weapon and followed after the noble, his staff occasionally hitting the bottom of the tile and ringing out in heavy, dull thuds. Before moving to stand next to the still yelling Prince, he paused just before stepping under the exiting archway into the awaiting hallway. The lich craned his neck to the side as his tone turned to that of a commanding one. There was one more task to be done before he could indulge into a few too many glasses of expensive Orrian wine.

"Oh, and Julianna", he ordered, addressing his healer whom seemed to have been startled by the sudden demand. A single finger was pointed towards the two injured Awakened still sitting at one of the long dining table. "You still have a job to do, and I expect it to be done with haste."

The freckled faced woman kept eye contact away from him as her face still held a bright red color, but she nodded in understanding of what needed to be done. Her hand was unconsciously fiddling with the ring on her finger again.

"Utumishi", Joko then ordered towards his dutiful adviser who was still on standby. "Make sure our bothersome healer follows through in her current job. You have my permission to report back to me promptly if she fails in her task."

The short man nodded, unable to hide the smile on his face upon hearing he was given permission to tattle upon the lout if need be. "Of course, my king. You can be assured it will be done."

Julianna wasn't shy about shooting a glare over towards the wormy adviser as she wanted nothing more than to smack the hyena-like grin off his face. She waited until Joko had turned his back from the two of them though before choosing to stick her tongue out at the leech of a man. Her behavior was cut short all-too quickly by the lich's voice again.

"I would suggest you quit your dawdling and get to work", Joko then called back out once he was some ways down the hallway with the Prince. The fact that he couldn't hear the sound of her over sized armored boots moving across the room yet, was all the evidence he needed to know that she was probably busying herself with glaring at Utumishi or immaturely sticking her tongue out at him as she usually did.

She had grown all but too predictable in the past few days.

And for her, for someone that was trying to plan a possible escape from the grasp of a tyrannical undead ruler, that would mean nothing but trouble.


	12. Dinner

**I don't own anything except for my OC.**

 **Update:** More fixes.

xxx

 _She had grown all but too predictable in the past few days._

 _And for her, for someone that was trying to plan a possible escape from the grasp of a tyrannical undead ruler, that would mean nothing but trouble._

xxx

Shortly after Palawa Joko and the Prince of the Gardens of Seborhin had escaped the dining hall to go indulge themselves with some questionable amounts of expensive alcohol, Julianna Fyre had quickly gotten to work on the task she had been appointed with.

Grand Vizier Utumishi had chosen to linger behind, as to make sure the woman was going to follow through with his undead King's order. The adviser had seated himself across the table from the two wounded Awakened soldiers, neatly folding his hands together as he awaited the potential failure from the lout of a woman he had deeply come to detest. He figured that if she couldn't have healed a mere shoulder wound on herself, then he had little doubt to think she could heal the similar-looking wounds on the two Awakened.

An assortment of different servants were already hurrying about the room, many tasked with the morbid chore of hauling away freshly slain bodies as others worked to remove the evidence left behind from the explosive skirmish.

Currently the healer was standing in front of one of her two patients. She examined that both had deep lacerations on their upper arms due to the exposed muscle unobstructed from the heavy armor they wore. But she knew that even with their tough and hardened flesh, it did little to protect them from the serrated blades that many of the Order of Shadows agents had been wielding during the battle.

She bit her lower lip, feeling quite intimidated by their large statues even when they were seated. The top of their armored heads easily reached her own maximum height as she stood in front of them and examined their each of their wounds respectively. The situation had reminded her all too much of Crabby, as she remembered how the familiar Awakened had been left behind to continue his patrol outside the Bone Palace grounds.

She shook away the memories of the grumpy, familiar Awakened soldier that had once been a previous patient of hers, and she focused her attention back onto the wound within her hands that was endlessly oozing out a river of black iridescent tar. Since Joko had graciously tended to the wound on her shoulder with his own dark healing magic, she had already been regaining a more calm composure again.

Julianna released a breath of relief when she felt the magic easily course through her fingers this time, as the incantation of a healing spell was easily released without panicked interruption this time. A large part of her had been afraid she wouldn't be able to cast a spell for quite some time after her emotional ordeal, but she was glad to see the process had come forth much more easier now that she wasn't in her state of turmoil anymore. It seemed the role of doctor came easily enough, as long as the profession was performed on others and not herself.

The other Awakened soldier who had been chatting along with his peer and had been ignoring the random woman's presence up until now, was now suddenly interested in what was happening with the situation. He peered over his cohort's soldier with newfound curiosity.

"Whoa, would you look at that", the Awakened warrior said out loud, stating the obvious as his beady yellow eyes watched the blue glow surround the woman's hands. "That looks way different than the magic Joko was just using. Almost completely opposite of it actually."

"Quite a sight to behold, isn't it?" Utumishi interrupted with heavy sarcasm, personally disappointed to see Julianna was performing to expectations now. "The little lout has actually proven herself to be somewhat useful now that she is no longer a sniveling mess."

The person in question shot a glare towards to the leech of a man who was still observantly watching the scene like a hawk. She bit the inside of her cheek, turning away to focus back on her work and deciding against saying what she really wanted to say to the adviser. There had been enough trouble that she had gotten herself into already, and she wasn't keen towards getting into anything more. She chose ignore his comment instead, and continued to work on the healing process as it was mending torn undead flesh back together again.

"I'm surprised you didn't want to join Joko and the Prince for a glass of wine", Julianna said, trying to switch the conversation with the mortal man sitting at the table near her. She knew the insufferable cohort was only watching her for the opportunity she would mess up as it would give him a petty excuse to go run and tattle to the very important and ugly bag of bones.

Utumishi just scoffed at her comment, crossing his arms and shaking his head. "Please, don't assume such things from me", he countered, pulling on his goatee. "Let's just say, that being in the company of our beloved undead ruler when he's been able to consume a fair amount of strong alcohol, has never proven to be a good time from my own personal experiences."

"Oh?" the healer questioned back, relinquishing the magic coursing through her hand when she saw the wound had healed up nicely enough. She patted the soldier's arm to indicate she had finished with her task before she moved to her other injured patient in the next chair over.

"If you thought Joko was terrifying and unpredictable enough just when he's sober, then being around him when he's had one too many is downright nerve wracking", Utumishi replied, pausing in his task of raking finger through the dark hair on his chin. "Though it takes quite a lot of strong alcohol for that to occur."

"Because... he's basically a walking corpse, right?" Julianna asked back, brows furrowing as she thought about the process of intoxication for someone that was undead. There was probably very little blood still coursing through Joko's withered veins, and she wondered if he even had working function of his major internal organs anymore. Getting intoxicated probably was a chore and a half for someone that had lived far longer than what should have been physically possible.

"Essentially so. Now then, don't you have a job to be doing? Instead of engaging in this useless conversation?" Utumishi asked, leaning back in his chair again when he realized there wasn't going to be an opportunity for him to go running back to Joko.

"Very funny..." she muttered back, pulsing a strong swell of energy through her arm as the light blue color enveloped her hand again.

xxx

Julianna and Utumishi continued to stay behind in the dining hall, even long after the healer had finished her appointed task of mending the two injured undead. The two Awakened soldiers had sauntered off someplace else once their supposed doctor had finished up, and they were muttering something to one another about the effectiveness of healing magic compared to that of tar-stained rags and bandages. Most of all the corpses in the room from the previous battle had been pulled away at this point, and servants had brought in mops with over sized buckets of soapy water and were now eliminating the red stains marring the surface of the floor.

Since the Prince had so graciously offered a makeup dinner and they were the only ones interested given Joko hadn't really given them a choice, they decided to wait for their courteous gift. And while neither would admit it, both humans weren't going to turn down the opportunity of a warm cooked meal. An opportunity such as that was a step far above and beyond compared to the rations of dried fruit and meat taken from the storage room back in the Bone Palace.

The prepared food was finally brought out on the finest of crystal, as the table was decorated in a vast amount of choices. The variety was grand, and the amount was nearly overwhelming as it was far more than two people could have shared between one another. It was obvious the Prince went all out for such occasions, even as last minute as it was. Though whether or not it was because there was intimidating company was another question entirely.

The healer sat right across the table from Utumishi, as the two now ate in silence within each other's presence Julianna's emotions and thoughts were still stuck in a tumultuous whirlwind. She felt that she was at her wits end with what to do with herself, as she struggled to find a place among her newly appointed position while also thinking more about the building possibility of an escape from her predicament.

Her eyes remained trained ahead on some random painting across the room, as her hand went to feel around the healed area on her shoulder for the umpteenth time since she had been seated at the table. Although she was still greatly bothered about what had happened, the medical side of her wanted to fully examine the properties of Joko's healing magic and what the aftermath of her wound now looked like.

"Troubled?" Utumishi asked, finally breaking the silence between the room as he loudly chewed on his plate of steak and asparagus. Even from his furthered distance, he could see the woman's eyes dart away from whatever she had been intently looking at as she glared daggers towards him. He watched with interest as her hand slowly moved away from her shoulder.

"Yes, now that you're talking to me", she replied in a flat tone, her voice devoid of emotion.

The near-balding man only chuckled at her immature retort. "Predictable response from you, as always. You know that mouth of yours is going to get you into some serious trouble one of these days", the Head of Civil Governance reminded.

 _"It already has"_ , she thought darkly to herself, thinking back to when she hadn't gotten away with sticking her tongue out at Joko back in the throne room. She frowned, the feeling of his clawed hands pointing into her flesh still fresh in her mind. But now that was replaced with the memory of the lich healing the wound on her shoulder because she had been unable to do so herself.

"Indulge me then, why don't you? I am curious to what has you so troubled", Utumishi continued, the man yearning for some sense of drama even if it was coming from the detestable person across from him. If there was anything that he could learn as possible blackmail from a careless comment, then he would hoard that valuable information away.

He then continued, though it was laced with a tone of falseness. "Please, do speak your mind."

Julianna didn't answer at first, as she mulled over the topic of conversation and whether or not she even wanted to answer him. She figured the persona across from her was probably the only other person she could even talk to about the matter though. Inwardly she groaned, as she realized just how pathetic of a thing that was. Even Crabby would have been an improvement from talking to a leech like Utumishi about such things.

"I'm just bothered because I should have easily been able to heal that wound I received", she said, deciding to indulge in his curiosity for now. She figured that at least what she spoke had been obviously true, and it was a glaring yet noticeable problem that anyone would have seen had they been in the room.

"And?" Utumishi droned, twirling around his fork in the air for emphasis.

"I was useless during that moment, and Joko obviously saw it", Julianna replied, looking up to lock eyes with her dinner mate across the long table. "And yet he chose to remedy the problem himself, so why?"

The adviser just chewed on his food and hummed loudly in thought, swallowing before giving his answer. "Honestly? I think he finds you as a source of entertainment for himself. A selfish act, but none too surprising giving our ruler's ego and personality."

The woman's mouth twisted into an unrecognizable mess. She stabbed at her own plate of asparagus and steak with her fork, staring at the meal below her utensil. The answer should have been expected, but it certainly hadn't been welcomed by the now incredibly frustrated woman. No person on the face of Tyria itself would have been pleased with the answer that the only reason they were unwillingly kept around, was for someone else's selfish desires.

She closed her eyes, inhaling a large take of breath before standing up and pushing herself away from the table.

"I'm suddenly not feeling hungry anymore", she said aloud with a flat tone, opening her dark eyes again as she looked at Utumishi's own pleased looking face. It took a great amount of will to fight against casting a large smite spell at his head when she saw he was taking great satisfaction in seeing how bothered she now was.

"Oh? Even after such a lovely meal was cooked for you?" he teased, waving his fork towards the various amounts of dishes laid out across the table. He reveled in the moment, seeing his simple comment of an observation had drastically shifted the woman's already flustered mood. "I doubt you ever received such lavish food back when you lived in Lion's Arch. It would be rude of you to just walk away from such a gesture."

She ignored the low blow of a comment, reaching out and grabbing her mostly untouched plate. "If you don't mind, I would prefer to eat alone with my thoughts. Away from the company of someone that resembles something closer to that of a pond's bottom dweller."

"Go find a servant down that hallway then", he scoffed, now sounding annoyed himself as he pointed towards the appointed location. "I was told we would have separate rooms prepped for our nightly stay. Bother one of the servants about it and leave me in peace then. I would greatly welcome it anyway."

Julianna shot her tongue out at him before tuning away with her plate of food within her hands. She carefully gripped the edges of her plate, as she walked down the hallway the adviser had pointed towards.

Getting away from the adviser had been the best decision she had made all night, as she was quite easily coming to terms that she was finding herself to completely hate the man.

xxx

It hadn't taken long for the wayward healer to find a person to help her as she aimlessly walked through one of the many winding hallways. A heavily robed, older looking woman had been more than happy to help when she caught got in the middle of an intersecting hallway and had been bumbling around with no real ambition of where she was going. The kind servant showed the woman towards a set of spiraling stairs leading to the lower section of the palace grounds, and as they walked together they were more than happy to share light conversation.

At one point along their journey Julianna could have sworn she had heard the terrifying and boisterous drunken laughter of Joko himself, as it caused the hair on the back of her neck to rise. But she passed the moment away with little more thought. She decided quickly enough that if what Utumishi had previously said about him being even more terrifying when drunk was true, then she had little interest in personally seeing it come to life.

As the duo progressed through the living quarters of the Seborhin Palace, the older woman decided to make a stop into a random room. She stepped inside for just a few quick moments before returning back with a pair of dark fitting pants and a simple embroidered top for Julianna to take. After exiting the room with the clothes in hand, she made a short but light-hearted comment about the younger woman's tattered looking clothes.

"Such a pretty young lady such as yourself should be dressed better than that", the older woman said, looking the younger person up and down unabashedly.

Julianna's face lit up with embarrassment, as she was suddenly reminded that she looked closer to something to that of a pirate than an actual medic. Her freckled face was lit ablaze, but she nodded quickly and gratefully accepted the new garments.

Eventually the two finally stopped in front of a different gilded door further down the hallway, the older woman standing beside it as she beckoned to her guest that she would be able to rest here for the night. The healer nodded, bidding the elder great appreciation for the help and the gift of something new and clean to wear. It had been an entirely unnecessary token, but the gesture was simply deemed as beyond kind.

After the servant had departed back down the hallway where they had walked from, Julianna carefully balanced her plate of food on one arm and opened the door. She stepped into the room, quickly shutting the door behind her before letting out a long and tired-sounding sigh once she was alone. Her eyes darted around, seeing the small space was decorated about as lavishly as every other part of the palace she had seen so far. She walked to a small unoccupied table on the other side of the room, setting her plate of food down and then placing the new clothes atop the adjacent dresser.

She looked about more, observing that the space was fit with a single bed in one corner, a dresser, a nightstand and a few accompanying tables. It was the near complete opposite compared to her drab living space back within the underground of Bitumen Reserve, though it would hardly take much to contest it. The plate of food was ignored for the time being, as there were more pressing matters Julianna wanted to address at the moment during her rare moment of privacy. The long trench coat she wore was thrown into a random corner of the room, the over sized heavy boots shortly to follow.

She then began peeling off her clothes, wincing when the fabric that had been caked with dried blood was stuck to her skin as it was forcefully removed. Her eyes looked down to examine the mended wound that Joko had healed, her hand moving up though it was hesitant to touch the area.

The wound from what she could see was ugly, dark and marred with sinewy black strands that reached all around the canvas of skin. While necromantic healing magic was effective in the worst case scenarios, it was much less pleasing to look at compared to the pure healing capabilities from a trained healer in the restoration arts.

The woman's hand moved to feel the abrasion of the sickly looking area, hesitating just inches away as though she expected the dark strands to jump out and wrap around her hand. She bit her tongue, pushing down the idea as she made contact with the skin and frowned. It had felt greasy, but strangely coarse somehow as well.

"I wonder what would happen if I tried to heal over it with my own healing magic?..." she mused aloud, fingers itching as she yearned to find out. If it meant the dark mark would dissipate entirely, then she figured it wouldn't hurt to try.

The healer poured magic into her awaiting palm, watching as it was enveloped with a warm light blue color. She moved the limb towards the injury, and frowned immediately when the ugly looking-wound began to burn in protest, as though the abrasion itself was retaliating against the opposite field of magic trying to cover it.

Julianna relinquished the magic in her palm, blinking as the burning sensation had dissipated as quickly as it had come.

 _"Well... Doylak spit. I don't like that one bit"_ , she thought to herself, moving her fingers back over the wound again as she felt its greasy surface. _"That magic was dark... and probably evil knowing where it came from. No wonder my magic is basically being repelled against it."_

Although she struggled to sit still with the thought of knowing she currently had a concerning looking physical feature marring the surface of her skin, there was nothing more she could do about it. She had to try and think positively and rationalize that it at least did the job of stitching her lacerated skin back together as she was no longer bleeding out on the dirty, dining room floor.

She let out an obnoxious groan then, throwing her blonde head of short curls back in annoyance before walking back over to her plate of food and bringing it to the nightstand sitting closer to the bed. Left in nothing but her undergarments, she let herself fall back against the plush comforter waiting below. A genuine smile almost intermediately replaced her annoyed grimace as she was instantly cradled with the luxury of expensive linen.

It seemed as though her body had finally caught up with the insanity of her troubled mind, as she felt incredibly burdened with fatigue. Her eyelids became heavy, and she blinked at the intricately tiled ceiling.

"I suppose having a weapon thrown into your shoulder is more tiring than I thought it would be...", she mumbled aloud to herself, moving upward to fit herself more comfortably in the bed. She glanced back at her unfinished plate, dismissing the need to eat the leftover food she brought with her as she concluded sleep was currently far more important.

Julianna fiddled around with the ring on her hand, the last thoughts swarming around through her head being that of dark necromantic healing spells and a terribly intimidating lich.


	13. Leaving Seborhin

**I don't own anything except for my OC.**

 **Update:** Fixing, fixing and more fixing still.

xxx

 _Julianna fiddled around with the ring on her hand, the last thoughts swarming around through her head being that of dark necromantic healing spells and a terribly intimidating lich._

xxx

 _Screams._

Julianna shot up from her comfortable escape in the bed, blinking wearily as the sound of loud knocking from outside the door echoed throughout the room. Memories of her dream were already replaying back, as they had been the same nightmares that had been plaguing her for the past few nights during her appointed stay with the Awakened forces. She sighed, shaking her head to try and rid away the repeated graphic images of slain Sunspear bodies laying next to her feet.

Strands of her curly blonde hair stood up in every direction, giving the tired looking woman an even more unkempt state of appearance. Her dark eyes blinked slowly while her brain was still feeling as though it was slowly turning back. The cogs to thinking more clearly again churned back to life while the knocking on the door continued. She simultaneously was trying wake up while also register who the owner of the angry sounding voice was that now seemed to be yelling profanities outside in the hallway.

She yawned, stretching her arms above her head as she heard the satisfying sound of her spinal column popping in various areas. It took just a few seconds to realize the grating noise outside the room had belonged to Grand Vizier Utumishi, and Julianna quickly concluded the slimy adviser likely had nothing of importance to say to her. The healer merely shrugged, stubbornly refusing to acknowledge the man's presence and deciding to escape back into the comfort of sleep. She grabbed a pillow to place over her head in a poor attempt to muffle the angry noise.

Just then the door flung open, revealing a very annoyed looking Utumishi as he stepped into the room. "Why would I even be remotely surprised to see that your worthless hide still sleeping in this late? Do you have any idea what time it is?"

His response was only a mumble from underneath the expensive sheets. The adviser muttered something foul under his breath, moving farther into the room and grabbing one of the pillows from a nearby chair before throwing the plush thing with full force straight towards the woman's sleeping form. He would be damned to the Mists and back if he didn't kill his cohort before they got back to the Bone Palace sometime later today.

Julianna nearly jumped up from the bed again when the pillow made contact with her head, and she drowsily looked around the room for the source of where the feather-imbued lump came from. Her hair was in even more disarray than before now, as she looked even more wild and untamed with the combination of dark circles sitting underneath her eyes.

"As I was saying", Utumishi began, smoothing down his clothes and narrowing his light colored eyes towards the pest before moving back around so his back was facing her. "There are some last minute errands still to do here because of some poor choices made last night, but we'll be departing soon. And unless you wish to be left behind with the Vabbian nobles and stick out like a sore thumb as you usually do, then I suggest-"

The man's comment was cut off when another pillow flew through the air with twice as much force compared to before, and nailed the back of his balding head. It had very quickly wiped the smile off his face as he had been in the middle of daydreaming about the potential scenario of Julianna getting into more trouble with Joko because she hadn't followed his simple directions.

"Hey!" he shot back, turning around and narrowly missing a second pillow thrown at his head. He could see her reaching around for a third one already. "Damn your antics, you immature brat of a lout!"

And with that last comment ringing through the air, he was about to turn and leave but stopped when a question was aimed towards him.

"Wait, what did you mean by poor choices from the night before?" Julianna asked, her voice still groggy from sleep. She placed the third pillow back down on the bed, but kept it within arm's reach as hardly trusted the actions of the man in the room. And she unappreciated his presence even less than that.

"The beloved Prince of the Seborhin Gardens is dead", Utumishi answered, sarcasm heavily laced within his voice as he stopped right in the middle of the door-frame. "We found him laying face down on the floor this morning, nearly forgotten among a puddle of his own blood."

"But... he was just alive last night?" the healer asked in disbelief, scratching her bare upper arm, while using her other hand to keep the blankets covering herself. She felt sorry for the Prince, as he seemed to have been quite overly gratuitous and kind even from the brief interaction she had with him the night prior. "What could have possibly happened between now and the night before?"

"Well, apparently one of Joko's over exuberant theater jokes had gone a little too far, and it resulted in the blundering excuse of a noble's death", he answered, now crossing his arms and sounding incredibly bored with their conversation. The adviser always had little care for the appointed Princes around the province, as he knew they were little more than placeholders for a fabricated title. Palawa Joko held every single card within his dominant form of ruling, and Utumishi knew that all too well from years of experience.

"What does that mean for us then?" Julianna continued with her questioning, raising a curious brow. Her hand moved upward, now feeling the coarse abrasion of the healed injury on her naked shoulder again. She had nearly forgotten about the thing, and suddenly wanted to inspect the area of skin again to see if anything had changed since last night's observation of it.

"Fortunately for you, it means nothing", he answered again, rolling his eyes in the process. He reached for the door handle, preparing himself to actually leave this time around. "But it is now my responsibility to find a suitable replacement for the ill-timed man."

A coy smile formed on the freckled face of the woman "Aw, poor you Utumishi", she teased, reaching toward the third pillow again for ammo just in case. "I guess that means you'll actually have to do your job for once."

"At least I know how to do mine", he quickly countered back, before slamming the door behind him with much gusto.

Julianna continued to wear a wide smile from ear to ear as she listened to the ringing of the door slam echo throughout the small space. The grin faltered, as she was reminded of her impending duty to go outside and meet with the others. Especially when 'others' meant that the terrifying figurehead of a lich was going to be one of them. She sighed loudly, throwing herself backwards into the comfortable bed she wished to never leave.

xxx

Palawa Joko stood outside the large open gates of the Palace, idly standing around as he awaited for his ensemble of Awakened troops to return back from their night of merrymaking and indulgence. He watched with little interest as his soldiers began trickling back outside from the lavish belly of the garden's inner grounds. The undead ruler stood near the head of the continually growing group, leaning on his staff for extra support as he looked both irritated and bored with the lack of speed things were moving.

He winced as he turned away from the glaring daylight again, the strong rays of the Elonian sun causing his sensitive eyes to burn in protest even more. He would have cast down the damned thing from the very sky itself if he could have. If there was one thing he despised more than having someone not want to share his interest for ensemble numbers, then it was a bad case of being terribly and horribly hungover.

He was yearning for the return back to the comfortable location of the fortress that he dared to call a home. For a powerful lich such as himself, there was something incredibly satisfying about seeing the macabre decoration of bones to remind him daily that he was the sole one responsible for decimating dozens of innocent lives and then using their remains for architecture.

The undead ruler figured it was the least the bothersome Centaurs could have done after being a thorn in his side for so long.

But unfortunately the case of being hungover and dealing with after-effects could not be evaded, even in Joko's prolonged life even when he had long since lost the sensation to pain anymore. It seemed not even immortality could save a person from the aftereffects of too much alcohol consumption.

His ears picked up on the sudden hushed chatter from troops albeit brief, as it meant someone of semi-significance must have approached the loitering group of Awakened. And given it could only mean it was one of two people to have caused such a stir, it had allowed the sudden interest of attention to rise back up from Joko. He knew one of his two mortal underlings was still busy cleaning up the mess left behind from the recently deceased Prince. Which had meant there was only one other possibility of who it could be.

Julianna Fyre walked out from the encompassing gates, holding a hand over her eyes to try also and shield herself from the bright sun. She struggled to try and regain clear focus again after walking into the sudden blinding light.

It was no surprise that the woman had been so focused on trying to fight away the sun's inescapable rays, that she hadn't even been aware that she was walking straight towards Joko. Her lack of situational awareness was proving itself yet again that it still needed to desperately be worked upon.

"Tell me _little one_ , how fares your inconsequential injury from last night's dinner escapade?" Joko began as she approached, slightly turning his head to watch her walk up, the ornaments on his headdress ringing against one another. He had taken immediate notice that she was wearing new and different clothing, though that awful tattered trench coat of hers was still worn on atop it all. The lich had noted to himself that it had been a pleasant change since the current clothes especially fit her far better than her previous outfit.

Julianna immediately stopped in her tracks just a few feet away from him and dropped her arm from trying to shield her face from the sun. She looked conflicted that she hadn't been more keen to her surroundings, but also because the seemingly innocent question leveled at her had come so far out of left field. She struggled to process that the very Scourge of Elona himself had just asked her about the current state of her well-being.

"It's... faring well enough I suppose", she struggled to get out, looking out towards the landscape of the Vabbian landscape and stubbornly refusing to make eye contact with the towering undead as per usual. Her hand went to touch the area of the injury as a frown found itself to her face.

"That hardly sounds assuring my dear", he sarcastically replied back, narrowing his eyes as the weathered lines on his face moved with the action. He walked a few steps closer, closing the short distanced gap between the two of them.

Julianna bit her lower lip, figuring her curiosity for the examination of the once-injured area on her shoulder was currently surpassing the fear of talking to the undead ruler for once. "I was actually looking at the healed area when I returned to my room last night, and once more again this morning. And since I'm quite unfamiliar with necromantic magic, I wanted to ask if it was supposed to leave... marks behind? Around the area where it was healed?"

Joko chuckled, moving a pointed claw to the exact location on the woman's shoulder blade that was being talked about. He jabbed a finger into her clothing, remembering exactly where the sewn together mass of skin was located.

"No, not quite. It's simply an ill-looking after effect from my own, powerful pool of magic", he explained, reeling in enjoyment upon feeling the woman's entire form freeze up the second he made physical contact. Though it partially could have been from the newly acquired information she was hearing as well. He pulled back his hand and continued.

"Simply put, my magic is now in your own blood", he continued, his eyes blazing with pride as a pair of concerned looking ones looked up towards him. "Your feeble body simply cannot handle the potential of magic that I posses. As such, your body is obviously trying to fight against it, though I must say it's failing miserably given your description of the area."

The healer stood frozen in the same spot, struggling to take in the new concerning information. She knew there was nothing potentially good about having the lich's magic now running through her. Something like that could prove to be an ever bigger problem if it were to interfere in an attempt at escape. Though how it could have, she was still completely unsure.

"But-" she tried, raising a pointed finger in the air but was quickly interrupted again, jolting back when the lich's louder, gravely voice overpowered her own meek one.

"Now, now, there's no need to thank me", Joko interjected, a terrible smile covering his leathery-looking face as he extended his other unoccupied outward. "Consider it a parting gift, as part of me will be with you everywhere you go now."

Julianna just watched his face for a few short seconds, debating through her next potentially problematic actions or words quite carefully. She let out a heavy sigh, looking away and muttering a short thanks that had been just barely devoid of sounding sarcastic.

The lich was about to say something more to the now quite-troubled looking healer, but he was interrupted instead by the grating sound of his adviser's voice beckoning to him from the gates. He inwardly winced, hardly pleased to have heard the grating noise of his brown-nosing, yet semi-helpful adviser.

"It seems all our loose ties have been finished up here, my king", Utumishi announced, pressing a hand to his chest and sticking it out quite proudly as he approached the two. "I've also made sure that everyone is currently accounted for and ready to depart."

The short man then turned to address the healer he was now standing next to. "Ah, and I see the lout actually woke up and followed my instructions."

"You're lucky there aren't any more pillows out here...", she whispered just loud enough for him to hear, crossing her arms and sticking her tongue out towards the man. She may not have been able to get away with such a thing when it was aimed directly at Joko, but she still had the levity of doing it towards the person she currently hated the most.

Joko moved his staff upward towards the sky, beckoning it towards his Awakened forces and stopping the two bickering mortals himself before they could interject again. "Perfect, then we shall return back to my glorious Bone Palace with haste once more. As for you two, enough of your childish squabbling. I'll have no more of that unless you wish to be thrown into an angry sand eel nest and left behind on the way back."

The two quickly shaped up and said nothing more, following the Scourge's orders with finality as they followed after him, the Awakened forces beginning to trail behind as the group set off into the awaiting Vabbian landscape once more.


	14. A Change of Plans

**I don't own anything except for my OC.**

 **Update:** Fixes.

xxx

 _The two quickly shaped up and said nothing more, following the Scourge's orders with finality as they followed after him, the Awakened forces beginning to trail behind as the group set off into the awaiting Vabbian landscape once more._

xxx

The group had been traversing only a short distance into the lush landscape of Vabbi again before a random yet sudden change of direction was decidedly made by their leader.

Julianna had surprisingly remained near the front of the group this time around, instead of lingering around in the back like the last few times she had been in the familiar situation. Joko of course walked near the front of the brigand, with Utumishi on the right side of the undead ruler and the healer walking just to the left of him. On top of everything else that had already occurred, she was now conflicted with the new development of the necromancer's own magic being intertwined within her own. And she was unsure if it was a cause for immediate concern. Nothing of ill-effect had happened yet, but she couldn't help but wonder about the long term effects it could potentially wreck.

Joko suddenly stopped on the path of the dirt road, halting at an intersection where it branched out in two different directions. He hummed loudly to himself, scratching the bottom of his in thought as his armored digits clattered against his over sized lower lip ring.

"I've decided a short detour will be in order", the lich said aloud, looking towards the desolate road that led to the west.

"We aren't taking the same north road through Jennur's Run?" Utumishi asked, raising a high brow in the air and looking quite confused with the sudden change of progression. He hadn't been aware of any potential changes to their usual route through Vabbi.

"We shall be heading towards the west road instead, as we'll be needing to make a detour to the Troopmarshal's Encampment there", Joko continued, stopping and turning to address his adviser. The troops that had been followed suit had stopped some ways behind, pausing in their march while remaining in their tight formation. They hardly seemed bothered by the random change, but not a single would dare to say anything against their unpredictable ruler lest they wished to endure his wrath for speaking out.

Utumishi just appeared baffled at the sudden shift of plans though, while looking slightly somewhat disappointed as well. It was mostly because it meant he was not involved within an apparent scheme that his undead ruler was plotting though. The adviser clicked his tongue and crossed his arms across his chest, quickly thinking though of which of the three marshals were stationed there.

He finally cleared his throat, looking to his ruler for answers once he knew of the answer. "There are some last minute matters to discuss with Troopmarshal Ogun then? Pardon me for asking, but I believe there hasn't been much recent advancement with his side of the military as he's been quite busy training new Awakened troops. What need would we have to stop there?"

"Don't you worry your gnarled head, my ever-vigilant adviser", Joko replied in an light tone of voice, stepping away from the man and walking towards his new target. The lich grinned, his face holding something to that of giddiness as he walked forward with his staff bouncing off the ground in each step.

Julianna tensed up, taking quick notice of who the Eternal Monarch of All was now stalking.

"Imp gall...", she muttered under her breath once she realized she was the painted target.

"It's the _little one_ here that should be more concerned about her impending whereabouts", he continued, waving his unoccupied clawed hand around exasperatedly through the wind as though he were entertaining an audience. He intentionally remained vague about what he was talking about, as he basked within the uncomfortable air that was stagnantly sitting around.

Utumishi said nothing more about the matter, but he watched the encounter with newfound curiosity now that he saw the detestable woman was obviously involved and it filled the man with selfish glee.

"What are you talking about?...", Julianna asked simply, taking a few hesitant steps backwards as the lich continued his pressing assault on moving into her personal space. Her face began to burn from the newness of the proximity again, as her nose was invaded by the familiar smell of decay.

"Ah, but you remain blissfully ignorant to my plans, how delectable! Unfortunately for you, I'm afraid you won't be making the immediate return back to the Bone Palace just yet", Joko remarked, stopping just in front of the fluffy haired woman and looking down to watch as her expressions quickly shifted from one to another while she took in what was being said.

"What do you mean I'm not going back?" she asked, trying to keep a confident bravado about. But that was obviously failing since her voice betrayed her and was sounding shaky. Her dark eyes dared to scan his withered face in an attempt to read his own expression.

"We'll be making a short stop to one of my marshal's encampments", the lich continued, his eyes darting from the healer's flushed-looking face to then look at the area of her clothed shoulder again while his eyes narrowed at the recent memory. He then leaned down some ways given that the woman was a few head's shorter than himself, and moved his face directly next to the side of her ear so only she would be able to hear his next statement.

He spoke quietly into the ear next to him. "Unfortunately, your skills leave much to be desired", he whispered, a wide grin stretched across his face. The ornaments on the side of his headdress still rattled noisily as they clattered against each other from having moved so far forward.

Julianna meanwhile was stuck within a world of inner turmoil as the suggestive words had almost been like a physical slap to her face. His close proximity to the left of her ear had her staring into one of the many empty sockets of the tar-stained skulls adorning the lich's shoulder armor. But what was even more troubling than the combination of his comment and looking at the macabre-looking armor, was the blatant fact the lich was close enough that she could feel the wisps of air passing through his mouth as he spoke. And even more disturbing than all that, was that rather than feeling the warm air like what should have been expected, it had been hair-raising cold.

The temperature of his breath wasn't even something the healer had ever noticed from past close encounters with him, as this had been the closest yet she had been to the terrifying reanimated cadaver. But she knew something like that should have been expected, especially given he was a walking reanimated corpse that had been around for an unknown amount of years. She finally blinked, as she could feel her ears burning with embarrassment, a sharp contrast to the tickle of cold air.

"No predictable rebuttal from you this time around? How disappointing", Joko teased when he didn't get an immediate response. He kept himself rooted at the closed distance just for the chance to continue getting under her skin. The observant lich took brief notice that he could have counted every single freckle that adorned the pale woman's face from this span. But he shoved the useless information away to the dark recesses of his brain.

"I've worked under plenty of stress before...", Julianna muttered just barely under her breath as she thought back to past times of her days working at the small clinic in Lion's Arch. Her brows drew together with sudden frustration, and she fiddled with the ring on her left hand as she focused her attention back to the invading ruler's face.

She opened her mouth to say something more in retaliation, but she stopped herself short when not only those memories of her past working life came back, but also the painful memories of her lack of ability to heal the Sunspear comrades she had once been with. Even though their group was doomed from the start, they had fallen to Joko and his forces partially because she could not have healed their wounds efficiently and quickly enough in the heat of battle.

"No, you clearly haven't", Joko said simply back, raising a brow towards the person in front of him before deciding their conversation was now done. He moved back to stand back up to his full height again and realized through the woman's sudden look of dread, that something in her brain obviously had her reminiscing had spoke louder than words.

The fact of the current matter was, was the immortal lich knew if the stubborn little pest of a woman was going to actually perform efficiently within his Awakened forces, then she needed proper training. And for the experienced likes of Palawa Joko, he knew exactly who to go to for such training.

And Troopmarshal Olori Ogun was going to provide the perfect opportunity for such a thing.

Julianna inhaled a deep breath, allowing her cheeks to expand out as she held in the hot air inside. It had helped keep her wagering tongue at bay from saying anything more that could get her into any kind of trouble. She finally exhaled when she felt herself become lightheaded from the lack of oxygen being produced. Her eyes flicked back to watch Joko's impassive-looking face again, dark orbs only narrowing when out of the corner of his vision she could see Utumishi sporting a stupidly large and knowing smile on his face.

The healer wasn't sure why she was so bothered to have the opportunity to get away from the terrifying likes of Palawa Joko. She simply concluded it must have been because these uprooting change of plans now her left her with even more questions than before, and also because it meant she was heading into the unknown with whoever this Troopmarshal character was. While she wouldn't admit it aloud to anyone, there had been a small part of her that had actually been looking forward to the chance to return back to her dreary room back in the Bone Palace. As depressing as she knew it sounded, it was the only space left to her that constituted some place of safety.

She kicked a random pebble across the ground, crossing her arms nodding in affirmation of the plans and ignoring the chuckle that came from the Scourge as he watched her actions.

"Small victories first...", she muttered again. " _Maybe there will be some useful information I can learn about while I'm there..._ ", she thought to herself afterward.

"Such a shame for the little lout", Utumishi cackled, his eyes crinkling with clear amusement as he finally walked up to the pair. He had been silent up until now, merely observing the conversation on the side until he felt it necessary to chime in. Hearing those orders had been like music to his ears. Having the woman away and out of his balding hair for some unknown period of time had practically been a wish come true.

Julianna's attention whipped towards the adviser now standing just a few feet away as he stood to the right of Joko. Her eyes narrowed sharply at him, trying again to unsuccessfully melt him into he ground as she had many times before. The man had learned exactly what to say to get under her skin, and she swore by her own hands it was going to be the death of him.

"Well, I don't suppose I have a choice again, do I?" Julianna finally asked, looking back up to the undead ruler whom was still regarding her with interest.

"No", Joko said with a grin, turning his head quizzically as though daring the little woman to dare make a stubborn bout of retaliation against him.

xxx

"Ah, my king, I certainly wasn't expecting you to make an appearance at my camp", Ogun remarked to his leader, the rather tall Awakened sounding nervous upon seeing his ruler approach his campsite. "Had I known in advance, I would have made better preparations."

Troopmarshal Olori Ogun was one of the three generals that oversaw Palawa Joko's Awakened forces. The tall, intricately dressed undead was in charge of overseeing and training the new troops before they were sent to the front lines of battle. He was outfitted in gold crafted armored, with ornaments of turquoise color accenting the decorations adorning its surface. A dark blue cloth hung around his waist, while the rest of his body was adorned with varying sizes of gold bangles. A towering helmet rested upon his head, with two protruding sections on each side reaching towards the open sky above.

In one of his tar-stained hands, he held a tall staff that appeared to be patched together with human skulls and spinal columns. The Awakened marshal stood atop a small hill, a blazing fire lit behind him with two large, stone pillars standing. Behind those, was an encompassing rib cage nestled in between that resembled something to that of an open maw of a monster.

Palawa Joko was currently stopped just below the set of stairs, and he waved his marshal with a dismissive hand. "We're merely stopping by on our way back to the Bone Palace. I only have but a small favor to ask of you."

"Of course, anything my liege", Ogun replied, his hand tightening on the staff as his eyes darted to the back towards where an awaiting brigand stood just some ways behind on the hill leading up to the encampment. His ruler making an unannounced visit had never bode well for him in the past, and it gave him great reason to be nervous. The last time he had made such a visit was when one of his soldiers had denied the fact that their eminence had invented mathematics. Said soldier had been dissolved into nothing but sand and dust.

Joko turned around to his left side to see that his healer's curly head of curls was curiously peering around his body and was watching his conversation with a curious looking face. He reached an arm back around and pushed forward on the woman's lower back as she was forced to moved forward in sight for his marshal to see. The lich only rolled his eyes when he could feel her try to stubbornly fight back against him physically moving her in the spotlight.

"I recently acquired a new healer for my undead army and she performs quite abysmally. My remedy for this disadvantage is that she'll be having a prolonged stay here at your camp", the Scourge continued, removing his hand from her back and keeping it upon her shoulder instead as his other hand was still occupied with holding his staff.

"She... hasn't been turned into an Awakened yet?" Ogun asked, eyeing the human female up and down as he regarded her fleshy looking state of being. He was admittedly taken aback when the woman suddenly stuck her tongue out towards him, as he hadn't been expecting such a thing from the meek looking person.

"Your observation is truly astounding", Joko replied back, sarcasm heavily laced within his gravely voice as his grip increased in ferocity from lack of patience. "I shouldn't need to explain myself for such a simple matter, but I digress. As you should know, healing magic performs far more effectively when its host is still living."

"I see...", the marshal replied, mouth moved to the side as he processed the new information. He still didn't quite understand why his King would bother himself with such a trivial matter, but he wasn't about to question his leader's strange decision.

"Don't ask me about the properties of how that works", the lich continued, releasing his hold on the person in front of him and waving an expressive clawed hand around. "Magic is a terribly fickle thing, but I am sure you already know this though."

"I still don't understand the point of me staying here then?" Julianna then interrupted, biting her lower lip and turning her head to look at much taller person standing next to her.

"Ogun will be working with you and training you to improve your work of healing under the conditions of stress and other timely situations", Joko responded, moving forward to grab hold of the healer's lower face even though the action was rewarded with a heated glare.

She could feel her ears and face burning again, and she wished his hand would relinquish itself from her face because she knew how obvious her embarrassment must have looked especially with an audience watching. She had despised how easily of a thing it was for the lich to now do, and it was becoming quite obvious that he must have known how to bring forward whenever he wanted.

"I know it truly is a crime to leave the companionship of your great leader", Joko remarked, smiling wickedly and removing his hand as he stored away the painted picture of Julianna's flush colored face since it would be some time again before he could see it. "But no matter my little tart, you'll return back to me within a week or so time."

"Very funny...", she muttered lowly, rubbing at her face where the clawed hands had grabbed her. She turned herself completely away from the group in an attempt to hide the obvious show of red now staining her freckled face.

She didn't dare look to the direction of where Utumishi had been standing and watching the scene from afar like the leech he was, as she knew the petty adviser was likely still holding a wicked smile on his face. And at this point, there would have been little to hold her back from casting a smite spell on his detestable face.


	15. Troopmarshal Olori Ogun

**I don't own anything except for my OC.**

 **Update:** Fixes.

xxx

 _She didn't dare look to the direction of where Utumishi had been standing and watching the scene from afar like the leech he was, as she knew the petty adviser was likely still holding a wicked smile on his face. And at this point, there would have been little to hold her back from casting a smite spell on his detestable face._

xxx

It had been three days since Julianna Fyre's arrival to the Troopmarshal's encampment, and it had been three days of utter, living hell for the healer.

Ogun hadn't held back in making sure she was properly trained to heal any Awakened soldier's wounds at a moment's notice. The second Joko had turned his back to leave the camp, the marshal had dug into the woman almost immediately and tasked her with the chore of healing the newly recruited undead troops while they sparred against training dummies and occasionally each other.

She had been caught off guard, since she was not expecting to have been commanded around so suddenly upon arrival, but she quickly went to work as she figured there wasn't really any room for her to stubbornly disagree with the high-ranking officer.

At least not yet.

But it was around this time of day three when the healer's patience and energy levels was at an all time low.

Julianna sighed loudly, wiping a tar stained arm across the top of her sweaty forehead while not seeming to care that the action had now caused a dark iridescent smudge above her brows. Her appearance looked as though she had been working an iron forge all day long from the amount of grime caking her skin and clothes. The small woman was sitting crossed legged on the ground right in front of an Awakened Occultist as he stood towering before her. She had been tending to a leg injury that had previously been hanging on at the joint with just a few spare ligaments.

The Awakened Occultist looked bored, though he would occasionally peek a look down a the blonde bob of curly hair to check on the work of the good doctor below. He carefully balanced himself on his staff to use a makeshift crutch while she attended to his injury. While the random spell caster would never speak his decayed and rotting mind about the strange matter of non-Awakened mortal that had recently come into their ranks, the healing magic was a step above and beyond compared to having the limb entirely amputated or just carelessly patched together with tar-stained bandages. He certainly wasn't about going to complain.

The medic's hands glowed a light blue aura as healing magic was poured into the open wound, the woman absentmindedly humming some long-forgotten pirate shanty she had picked up back during her previous living conditions in Lion's Arch. She couldn't stand hearing them at the time they were being sung by drunk scallywags in the local bars, but perhaps it had been the random call of nostalgia which had caused her to still remember them.

The Occultist was startled back to reality when the mortal patted his bare leg, signaling that she had finished her work. He tilted his head to the side with curiosity, placing down the weight of his once-injured leg and finding himself delighted to feel it was back in working condition again. He bid the woman a short thanks before heading back off into the brutal training regimes of the Troopmarshal.

The tired-looking woman watched the random solider leave, continuing to stay seated on the ground as she clenched and released her hands, grimacing as she could feel the sticky substance of leftover tar coating her palms.

Julianna craved many things after two days of being stuck in this pit of demise:

Her awful bedroom back in the Bone Palace, the terrible means of being able to wash herself, rations that didn't taste as though they were three hundred years old, the Scourge...

The woman caught herself trailing off with the later of the dangerous thoughts, shaking her head to try and rid herself for who she had been thinking of. There was no way in Tyria she should have had even the smallest desire to see that terrifying lich's face again.

Her freckled face scrunched up to something that of great annoyance.

" _Curse my very existence to the Mists and back. Escape is starting to feel like its growing more and more distant..._ ", she thought moodily, throwing her arms out and extending her legs as she let herself fall back against the surface of dirt beneath her. It had been _almost_ nearly as comfortable compared to her terrible bed back in Bitumen Reserve. She coughed when a cloud of dust rose up over her body from the action, before it slowly descended back into the earth and became still once more.

Well, it had been just about as dusty as her bed had been anyway.

She lay there motionless, staring up at the cloudy grey sky above her head. Her hand returned back to the area on her shoulder that had been healed by the dark necromantic magic by the very undead God-King himself. She wondered how different the healed injury had looked now, if there had even been any noticeable change at all from the past few days. But hardly a minute had gone by while she was left alone with her brooding thoughts before her view was obstructed by another injured-looking Awakened that had come to her for immediate mending.

"Fix now", the Awakened Archer ordered promptly.

She wondered how long a bleeding heart could last before it had been eroded away into tiny grains of sand and were forever lost to the dunes of the Vabbian landscape.

 _"Small victories..."_ , she reminded herself.

xxx

Julianna placed her hands over the open wound of an Awakened Mummy, trying her best to quell her shaking hands as she attempted to cast a healing spell for the laceration. The familiar blue light around her hands lazily came around, the color dimming quickly as it flickered about like a candle's flame. The effects of the spell quickly faded away, as its owner struggled to keep it alive.

"Son of a Skritt, not again...", she muttered, trying again to ignite the spell but frowning when it failed once more. Rather than the previous time of being unable to cast a spell upon her self because of her state of injured-induced panic, this had been a different situation altogether. Her chest heaved up and down with a deep exhale of breath, her nose breathing out hot air of bundled up frustration.

She had been working on injured troops nonstop all day long, and it appeared as though her energy storage was almost entirely depleted. Dark circles sat underneath the woman's eyes, and her hands, arms and face were coated in varying amounts of tar. The ratty trench coat she had been wearing hardly looked any worse for wear given its previous poor state of condition, but the new clothes she had just received at the Palace were likely ruined beyond repair now.

Troopmarshal Olori Ogun could see the woman struggling and walked over, his presence foreboding as he approached the mortal woman. "What's going on? This soldier's wounds should have already been healed by now."

"Because I can't cast any more spells", Julianna tried to explain, watching her hands as they were physically shaking from pure exhaustion. She clenched them before turning to the Awakened general with a heated glare. She wondered if she could melt the marshal into the ground with just her stare alone, just like she had unsuccessfully done with Utumishi many times before.

She continued when he looked on, obviously expecting a better answer from her. "Look, my body is completely drained since it's been pushed its limits. I don't have any energy left to cast anymore spells."

"And I don't see your point", Ogun shot back, not about to take empathy from the new recruit to Palawa Joko's Awakened army. In her days here, he hadn't liked the woman's company any more than when he first set eyes on her. "Answer me this then, if our glorious leader was here and he was suffering from a dire wound, would you still be incapable?"

"Probably", she countered, her brows creasing together as she decided to allow her mouth to get her into more trouble. "I mean, he's immortal. And not only that but I imagine he can heal it on his own given he has-"

"Wrong answer", the marshal harshly interrupted, moving forward to seize the the healer's upper arm and haul her closer to his face as he leaned down just inches away from her own. "Your duties hold you responsible and you would heal our magnificent king's wound, even if it killed you. Perhaps then when you're finally dead, you could be brought back as an Awakened, and actually prove yourself useful for once."

It had been the tipping point for the exhausted woman, and she had thrown all caution out the window by this point, even when dealing with a so-called higher up within the Awakened forces. She wrenched her arm away and sneered loudly in frustration, trying reach into the bottom of the barrel for backup energy so she could prepare a smite spell. But just as before, she had none left to give which left her awkwardly standing there in a defensive position.

She was quite literally left with nothing else to retaliate with anymore, and she sighed obnoxiously loud from the lack of arsenal she had to use. She crossed her tar-stained arms crossed across her chest and she stuck her tongue out towards the marshal as per her usual antics.

Ogun wasn't about to put up with her behavior though.

"Since you truly believe you are incapacitated in your healing magic, you can instead busy yourself preparing tar soaked bandages for our wounded soldiers. I want that entire crate emptied and prepared by nightfall. You can lay out the bandages in the other barrel on the opposite side", he ordered, nearly mirroring the action by also crossing his arms across his chest for further emphasis.

Julianna was now instantly feeling the regret for her previous impulsive action as she turned to see the work. She was inwardly screaming at herself, as she looked over to what looked like a mountain of bandages awaiting her on the farthest wall of the camp. Her dark eyes turned back towards the general as she held a frown.

"But... that's going to take me all night", she countered, her lower lip sticking out in a pout. Nothing about that task had looked enjoyable.

"Your point?" Ogun repeated again, shifting himself from foot to foot while tapping the bottom of the staff on his clawed toe in boredom. "Consider it your punishment for acting like a despicable little urchin towards me. And perhaps if you get it done, I may consider _not_ sharing our incident with Joko."

The tired-looking healer said nothing before reluctantly nodding since she now knew there was no place for her to deny the order. She was already in trouble enough as it were, and she didn't need to make things any more difficult for herself.

Especially if there was the threat of a marshal tattling to Joko now hanging over her head.

She stood waiting for Ogun to turn his back from her until it was safe before making a rather ugly face towards his retreating back. Her face returned to that of a disappointed one quite quickly once she looked back towards the impossible stack of bandages that were unfortunately still awaiting her.

xxx

Meanwhile elsewhere on the island of Istan, Palawa Joko and Utumishi had been summoned to attend an 'emergency' meeting to discuss impending situations that threatened the area shortly after their arrival to the Bone Palace from the Gardens of Seborhin. They were currently situated within the royal court of Palawadan, seated at an overly long table that was occupied to the fullest with Istan Nobles. The room was lively and bustling with people, as the finest of silverware had been brought out for the occasion that the undead ruler had been invited.

Servants walked to and from archways, constantly replenishing the vast amount of fine food and drink on the table. The supplies appeared endless with how often they came and went. The nobles had gone out of their way to ensure they had spared no expense for their benevolent and beloved ruler.

"We have heard rumors of Sunspears hiding out somewhere on the island", the highest ranking noble spoke, who was sitting to the left of the undead king. "We've also had caravans going missing, and never arriving to our marvelous city of Palawadan. As such, we can only assume it's the blasted Sunspear's own doing."

Joko sat at the head of the table, listening to the dabble of information that he was already well aware of. He was incredibly bored with this entire encounter, and did not understand why he had even taken the time to make a presence here in this city. His adviser could have easily made the trip alone, while he remained back at the Bone Palace doing other more important and far more valuable things worthy of his time.

" _I wonder how the stubborn, little healer is faring with my Troopmarshal..._ ", he thought, mindlessly picking at the encrusted gems on his goblet in a bored manner.

"We understand it's a problem that has been occurring for weeks now", Utumishi began slowly after watching his ruler to wait and see if he would add anything to the conversation. But it had seemed his King was completely disinterested in the conversation and lost within his own brooding thoughts instead.

"But they seem to be getting more frequent though", the same Istan noble said with more urgency this time. "To think that those wretched rebels are eating our own imported foods? The nerve!"

"They can starve and rot for all I care", another noble chimed in.

"Death to the Sunspears!" another rallied.

"Yes, well, all very well and good", Utumishi continued, after taking a long drink from his goblet. This entire trip was proving to be trivial, and the only good that had come from it had been the imported wine from the Tyria mainland. "This wonderful bout of morale doesn't solve your problem then."

"Then what should you suppose we do?" the high ranking noble asked.

Joko's voice finally cut through his temporary silence. "Send parties of Awakened troops to patrol the road at night, and increase the amount of scouts set up around the city's perimeter", he explained, placing his own goblet back down on the table again. He stood up, splaying his clawed, tar-stained hands across the surface. "You can have more of my Awakened soldiers stationed within the villages, and be given permission to lock up any citizen that has even a mere suspicion to have been collaborating with those bothersome rebels."

"Of course, what a brilliant suggestion my beloved God-King", the noble said, praising the sudden suggestion. The rest of the Istan nobles at the table chatted giddily to each other. They had been excited to hear of the plan, knowing it would hopefully be the end to their dire problems.

"It seems a fairly straightforward solution...", Utuimishi muttered, peeking over the rim of his cup towards the brown nosing nobles with an annoyed glance.

Joko bowed his head, briefly excusing himself from the room as he had deemed the predicament to have been solved. His chair loudly scraped against the tile flooring, silencing all those within the space as they were surprised at his sudden exit.

"Come along Utumishi", he beckoned, not looking back to know if his dutiful adviser was following as he headed away from the bothersome group of high-ranking nobles. "We'll return back to the Bone Palace, I do believe our work here is done."

xxx

Julianna had fallen asleep whilst in the middle of her mind numbing task, long before the time when her work was due which had caused her to sleep until the next day. She was unbelievably fatigued from the work of pushing her body to its physical limits from having cast so many healing spells and also from having to catch up with the emotional turmoil still of what had happened back at the Palace. While the task of soaking bandages within tar wasn't hard work, it was certainly monotonous and it hadn't taken long for the mundane task to start pulling the woman towards the desire for sleep.

Eventually her body seemed to have won the battle, and she couldn't recall back to when her world enveloped itself into a dream like sequence.

It was the next morning when the Troopmarshal had discovered her unappealing and uncomfortable-looking display of sleep. She had been awkwardly leaning against the crate, her arm resting atop it as to kept her head up. Her supporting hand had been pushed into her freckled cheek, pushing it upward as a line of drool trickled from the corner of her open mouth.

"Maggot, you didn't finish what I asked you to do", the marshal remarked, using his clawed foot to kick the mortal's sleeping corpse. While Awakened didn't necessarily require sleep, they still required some measure of rest. Especially when being put through rigorous exertion as Ogun had done with his newly acquired soldiers.

Julianna was startled awake, jolting upwards in a panic when the undead general's voice breached her unconscious mind. Her hands flew towards her eyes in a last minute ditch effort to chase away the sleepiness still afflicting her vision. She cursed loudly the second her hands made contact with her face though as she had forgotten they were still stained with tar from the night before.

Troopmarshal Ogun said nothing, watching the spectacle with feigned interest as he tried to surmise and piece together just how this woman had survived for as long as she had during her stay within Joko's reign. He also found himself questioning why on Elona would his benevolent master would have even bothered with this almost near-useless blight.

The healer groaned aloud in irritation, her voice still gravely from sleep as she used the cleaner section of her tattered coat to try and wipe away the substance staining her face. She figured by now she must have looked like a feral raccoon given the dark color had probably been smeared across to resemble something like that of a bandit mask.

"As I said... you didn't finish the task I had appointed you", he repeated, walking closer to the crate as he looked inside to see there was still about half of the bandages left in there. He frowned deeply, turning back to face the apprehensive look of the healer now watching him. "Do you think our leader would find this acceptable?"

Julianna didn't answer at first, turning away as she looked out towards the dozens of Awakened mummy's that had already begun their daily training regime. Waking up and thinking about the unpredictable and terrifying lich was the last thing she needed during the first parts of her morning. Her stomach churned with uncertainty and fear as she absorbed the verbal threat.

"I asked you a question", Ogun snapped again impatiently, his clawed hand clenching the staff he wielded in impatience.

"My name is Julianna", the healer suddenly snapped back with equal fervor, now standing up though her height was dwarfed by the general's much taller one. His height was nearly twice compared to that of Joko. "I do have a name, you know. And I heard you the first time."

To say the general had been taken aback by would have been an understatement. He had become far too accustomed to dealing with servants that had unquestionable loyalty and were seemingly incapable of having the gall to be so bold and stubborn in attitude towards him. The recent wayward healer had been an anomaly, given she was still a living mortal much like Utumishi, and it was clear there was still a handful of troubling attributes that came with a person who had not been turned from death yet.

Before the high-ranking Awakened had a chance to counter-attack against the daring person before him, she moved forward and past him as she grabbed a new bundle of bandages.

"Look, I'll finish what I started here last night and then return to the soldiers on the training ground so I can tend to their injuries", Julianna spoke, not looking over at the confused-looking undead as he seemed to be struggling to comprehend what was happening.

After a long and conflicted pause, Ogun huffed before turning away and raising a dismissive hand. "It better be done by noon", he finalized, stalking off to go deal his other new arrivals.

As he walked away, he found himself pulling together his collected thoughts about the strange woman. He surmised that Julianna Fyre was incredibly similar to that of a small, wavering flame. But she was immensely stubborn, and refused to die out even when pushed and prodded to her breaking point where she should have been snuffed out. If pushed too far she would retaliate back, often in ways that got her into a deep amounts of trouble. The evidence had been seen before when she had previously wanted to try and throw a spell at him, but had been incapable due to her fatigue.

Ogun wondered if his assumption was some part of the reasoning behind why Joko was keeping her around.

The Troopmarshal concluded that his ruler was either trying and hold onto that possible flame for as long as possible, only so he could seek the long term greed to extinguish it himself once and for all. If not that, then perhaps because the lich was selfishly wanting to hoard onto it for himself. If only because he was deriving entertainment from it while he continued to feed the flames and cause more and more encumbering hindrance to woman without much care for her well-being or state of mind.

He knew from long-lived experience that Joko had proven to be incredibly cruel when the times came to, and he wondered if Julianna was perhaps just another example of it. While it wasn't something that the general had ever quite heard of before, he figured both of his predictions could have been equally true for his leader's reasoning was to keep her around.

Whatever the case was, he knew times would not bode well in the future for bothersome but stubborn little flame.


	16. Return to the Bone Palace

**I don't own anything except for my OC.**

 **Update:** Fixing errors and revising.

xxx

 _Whatever the case was, he knew times would not bode well in the future for bothersome but stubborn little flame._

xxx

It was the second to last day of Julianna's training at the camp when she had noticed Troopmarshal Olori Ogun looking over a map near his so-called work station that only consisted of a lone desk. The large piece of paper sitting atop the cracked piece of wood had caught her eye quite quickly, and she spared glances from across the other side of the camp as she continued her daily work of healing injured Awakened soldiers. The healer struggled to focus on her tasks though since she was constantly burdened with the thought of the important piece of cartography laying just nearby and awaiting her curious eyes.

"Void take me...", she muttered, eyebrows drawing in closely together in frustration from the never ending work she had been entrusted with. More than once already she had failed the incantation of a spell because she couldn't focus clearly.

After all of her time spent in the Elona so far, it had been the only other chance to rectify a possibility of escape. The only other time she had come even close to such a thing, was when she had been looking at the stack of books back in the Bone Palace before Joko had walked in on her and disrupted that potential concept altogether.

Her face burned again at the memory of his evocative words he had used back then. Her face only continued to grow warmer as she was also reminded all too well of the other suggestive times it had happened after that. She shook her head from the obtrusive thoughts and went back to her current work, finishing off the last incantation of a spell to her Awakened patient who thankfully was still naive to her inner turmoil.

A map could prove to be incredibly valuable for her, especially since trying to plan an escape was in her potential future agenda. Even though she had already scouted out most of the area around of the Bone Palace's vicinity, she still had no idea what the lay of the land was like beyond that. The Desolation and further out from that point was a completely unknown world to her given she came from Tyria. She would have no idea of where to even go even if had she been able to slip away from her current confines and escape off into the unknown landscapes that awaited her.

"Wound bleeding, fix now", her patient demanded, catching the doctor from her thoughts as she had paused in her current treatment.

She clicked her tongue, going back to her task of mending together a large gash painted across the mummy's shoulder. She figured she could be a bit more patient and bide her time until an opportunity presented itself.

It was a a few hours later when the Awakened troop's morale began to dwindle from their training, and they lumbered off in leverage for a short rest. It meant Julianna's own work had lessened as well, and she finally gained the chance to leave her post and seek out the map that Ogun had been looking at earlier that day.

The Troopmarshal had been writing down strategic notes upon the personal map, taking quota of how many troops had come and gone from the training camp within the past few weeks while also drawing lines to the locations they had been sent to. He had Julianna's name randomly on there as well for future reference, as he had made sure to place an asterisk next it. His eyes looked up from the piece of paper when he heard the sound of heavy unfitted metal boots approaching, and they only narrowed when he saw the owner of them.

"Shouldn't you be healing a soldier, maggot?" he asked, voice sounding bitter to see she had momentarily abandoned her post. He felt himself becoming even more irked with her current antics when she hadn't paused and had instead stopped to stand right in front of his table.

"Well, all of the soldiers are resting for the time being, so there isn't anything else needing to be done", Julianna answered, shrugging her shoulders. His crude disposition towards her made her wonder if there was a single Awakened out there that actually tolerated her enough to have actually liked her presence.

 _"There's always Joko..."_ , some random dark side of the woman's brain countered. _"Compared to most everyone else, you get along the best with him. I mean, especially in comparison to someone like Utumishi or Ogun-"_

Her battling thoughts were interrupted by said marshal speaking again.

"I'm sure you could be working on soaking bandages with tar then, as it's an endless job for a useless worm such as yourself", Ogun snapped, continuing to glare at the pest in front of him. He couldn't fathom why she was bothering him now of all times. This was the first time she had willingly come up to him on her own accord.

"I couldn't help notice that were looking over a map and I just... kind of became curious about it? And since I figured an experienced marshal such as yourself would be the one to ask, are there any other Awakened camps training camps beside this one?", Julianna began with honeyed words, going through her carefully planned lie to get the information she needed. "You know, Utumishi had once mentioned booting me off to another one if I bothered him too much."

Ogun unknowingly took the bait, as he shared he same disinterest towards the person. "I'm half tempted to send you to one of them myself if you continue keeping this up", he said, before pointing a clawed finger to the map below. "There are two others, here and here which are both located within Vabbi."

Julianna merely feigned interest and she looked across the table at the two pointed out locations. Her eyes hardly bothered to look around the Vabbi region, as they instead scanned back towards the location of the Desolation on the map. She immediately took an interest at the large horizontal line stretching far across the outer part of the sulfurous looking wastes at one point.

"I'll keep that in mind in case the wonderfully wormy adviser goes through with his threat. What about this thing though?" she asked innocently, pointing towards the line after figuring she had gained enough of a temporary disposition with Ogun.

"You don't know?" he asked, sounding snide as he bit back a sneer. "It's the Bone Wall, the glorious piece of architecture that keeps the unwanted away from Joko's own glorious domain.

 _"More like keeps them in"_ , she inwardly thought, her eyes slightly narrowing.

"There are camps both here and there as well?" Julianna dared asked instead of actually speaking what crossed her mind, pointing to the two marked locations on each side of the line.

"No, those are both farming villages for Joko's non-Awakened servants and loyalists", the marshal answered, lacing his fingers underneath his chin. "I'm surprised you weren't dumped at either of those locations."

"Very funny...", she noted, taking great note of their locations on the map as she painted a mental map for herself.

There was one thing she took away from that prosperous encounter with the obviously grumpy marshal.

North.

North was the answer to her escape.

xxx

Troopmarshal Olori Ogun returned back to the Bone Palace about half the day later, mounted on the back of his saddled raptor as the new deployment of Awakened troops were marching in tight formation just behind him. His ruler's orders had coincided all too-well together with the two tasks of bringing him a new squad of undead soldiers for his forces as well as returning back the healer as well. Given he knew Joko carefully planned everything out to complete and utterly disturbing precision, it was obvious that it had been no mere coincidence for the timing.

The marshal just hoping the training paid off, or else there would be hell for him to pay. And he'd be damned to the Boneyard and back again if it was his hide was on the line.

Julianna sat in front of him on the beast's saddle, struggling to keep her eyes open as the lulling movement of the mount had nearly put her to sleep on the long journey. Her head continually lolled forward, as she kept snapping it back up whenever it moved too far downward.

The excursion of her 'so-called training' had left her physically spent and she had been worked to the bone by Ogun to ensure she knew how to work under stressful field situations as a mender. She could say with confidence that she had improved quite impressively in the short time span, as it had even helped extend her energy pool by a small amount. But that had also come at a cost for her current state of being, which was making her look closer to a disgruntled corpse than a still-living mortal.

Ogun had pulled on the reins right after stepping across the rib-cage lined bridge that lead into the Bone Palace. A few random soldiers had come forth, waiting to take the raptor for the time being which would allow the creature some well deserved rest. There were numerous rumors that Beastmarshal Ekolo would have anyone's head if she heard her mounts had been mistreated. He looked around, the area was bustling with soldiers patrolling all around the area as usual, some stalking around on the ground level while others watched in curiosity from raised platforms above.

Two Awakened archers caught sight of the familiar head of curly hair still perched atop the animal, and they began passing copper and silver pieces to each other in great amusement as they placed their bets on how soon it would take for her to fall on something again.

The Troopmarshal nodded to the two nearby Awakened by that were waiting to take the reins away before clearing his throat loudly with a gravely voice. "Wake up maggot, we're finally here."

Julianna jolted back awake, nearly forgetting where she was as she threw her arms out in a panic when she realized she had previously been balancing herself atop something living and was now sliding off the side. She frantically waved her arm in a last ditch attempt to grab something to pull her back up but was met with nothing but air.

Ogun quickly seized her upper arm, rooting her back in place and sighing loudly in clear discontent with her actions. He'd be grateful when the woman was finally no longer his problem anymore. The high-ranking undead muttered something under his breath about the woman's lack of complacency since she would have fallen straight off the raptor had he not seized her upper arm when he did.

He twisted himself around atop the saddle, beckoning towards the barrage of troops still ambling around with no further orders yet. The marshal dismounted and pointed towards the outer grounds of the fortress with a single finger, now expecting the ensemble to follow his orders all the way until they were finally in Palawa Joko's own hands. They shambled across the bridge, some looking around in awe and muttering in excitement about finally getting to see their beloved ruler that they had heard so much about in their short time of reawakening.

Julianna was about to bid her thanks to the marshal after nearly falling face first into the now very familiar looking dirt, but she was halted in the action when Ogun quickly pulled her off the back of the raptor before she ever got the chance to say anything.

"Let's go, our King is probably already waiting for us", he said, quickly plopping down the woman back onto the ground and moving away before he had the could have seen what she had to say or do in rebuttal. "We best not keep him waiting."

xxx

Julianna peered around Ogun's large frame as they walked forward further into the center of the Bone Palace. Her dark eyes widened in surprise at seeing a female Awakened sharing a conversation with both Joko and Utumishi near the middle of the room. The unknown person was taller than the lich himself, and she held about her an aura that was both intimidating and confident. She was dressed simply, accents of purple and gold mostly making up her ensemble while a large gilded headdress sat upon her head, making her height appear even greater.

"Who's that?" Julianna innocently asked as she observed from afar, looking up towards the person she was hiding behind.

"That would be Wurmmarshal Osa Ekolo, one of the other two marshals within Joko's Awakened forces", Ogun answered simply. "She personally oversees, and trains the Junundu wurms for battle."

The woman raised a brow at that last comment, remembering way back to when Crabby's injured limb had once been offered to one of the mysterious beasts during one of the lich's very real and verbal threats. She still hadn't seen any signs of a wurm anywhere yet, even on their way to the Palace and it made her question the validity of them actually existing. For all she knew, it could have been some well-bolstered lie the undead ruler had made up which probably wouldn't have been the first time after somewhat knowing his devious personality.

"She's the only one us three who has a chair next to Joko's own throne", Ogun then continued, trying his best to hold back any noticeable jealously as they continued to slowly make their way up the short ramp into the throne room.

A dawn of realization had gone off in the healer's brain, as she realized with that new information that this new marshal was obviously the owner of the mysterious chair she had once wondered about. Which more importantly, also meant she was the same one responsible for keeping the pile of books on the table next to it. The freckled face woman blinked a few times, the cogs in her brain turning as she thought back to the content of the books and what insight that could have given a hint to Ekolo's position as someone who apparently trained wurms.

Julianna then turned to look up at the taller undead just in front of her once more. "So why does she get a chair in the throne room and you and the other marshal don't?"

"I will not argue that Ekolo shares the most amount of respect with our ruler", he continued, not afraid to state the facts within earshot as they stopped just before the other group. "She's been around far longer than either myself or Eranko."

Utumishi didn't hold back a noise of disappointment to see that the wayward healer had seemingly returned in one piece. His light blue eyes rolled to the back of his head in dismay, muttering something to himself about the fortitude of the annoying pest. He had at least taken the gratification in seeing her appearance certainly looked worse for wear though, considering her hair was in more of a tousled mess than usual and her skin looked stained with varying amounts of dirt, grime and tar.

"Ah, my magnificent and benevolent King Joko", Ogun began with bravado, nodding his head respectfully towards his ruler. "I've just returned from the encampment with a new battalion of trained troops. And you can see I brought back your healer much stronger as well, as per your orders."

Julianna said nothing, staying rooted to the spot next to the marshal and not daring to move anywhere else closer while she fidgeted with the ring on her finger out of pure nervous habit. She felt incredibly out of place among the Awakened, even though the mortal leech of an adviser was there as well. The matter certainly wasn't helped because she could feel Joko looking at her closely as though he were searching for any crack of vulnerability that may have occurred during her absence.

"So, this is the stubborn little healer you kept talking about?" Ekolo asked, breaking the silence. Her hollowed-looking eyes looking the woman up and down as she regarded her current state of being. Even from just a quick glance, she hadn't quite been what the experienced marshal was expecting to see.

"Ah, so you do actually listen to my ramblings Ekolo. But yes, indeed she is", Joko nearly beamed with a strange air of confidence. He walked towards the healer before sidestepping around her before she had the chance to move away. A clawed hand moved to sit atop one of her shoulders before nudging her to step forward closer into the group.

He took immediate notice of how easily she tensed up the second he made physical contact with her, which was a small but noticeable thing he had nearly forgotten during her prolonged absence. He lightly squeezed into the area of her muscle, knowing quite well of the injury that still lay underneath the tattered clothing.

He continued. "I must indulge about the matter, since it was quite gratuitous situation. Not only was I able to decimate some wretched Sunspear dogs that dared to try and assassinate my greatness, but I also received a semi-decent healer for my undead army as well."

Julianna could feel her face burning from the embarrassment of being put on the spot and shown off like some mere trophy. She also knew the hand on her shoulder had likely been a silent reminder about that he had healed an injury of hers and his magic now was being imbued within her own blood because of it.

 _"The bastard just felt like reminding me again..."_ she thought grimly, thinking back to the condition of what the wound had looked like after he had used necromantic magic to stitch it back together when she had been unable to do so herself. She promised herself to find a pumice stone so she could ground the area of skin into an irritated red paste once she got the chance to bathe back in her room again.

"I must say, our benevolent ruler had mentioned you in passing quite a handful of times within the past week", Ekolo explained, looking from the immortal lich and then down to the much shorter mortal next to him. "I rarely hear Joko speak praise of anyone but himself, so I was growing quite curious about who you were."

Joko just frowned at the passive aggressive sounding comment, his eyes narrowing towards his most-trusted marshal though there was not a trace of spite or resentment. "You truly wound me Ekolo", he said with heavy but playful sarcasm, leaning down so his face was nearly adjacent to the female next to him. "Can't a lich have any fun without his marshals questioning his every motive?"

Both Ekolo and Ogun had looked to each other. Their silent glances spoke words as neither were absolutely certain of what their ruler's true motivations were with the recently acquired person. They both knew that had she been a mere pawn to some plan of his, as he wouldn't have put nearly as much work into her as he already had. If not, she would have already been left for dead long ago.

Julianna meanwhile had considerably tensed up during the conversation. The familiar stench of rotting decay and expensive fragrance assaulted her nose from how close the ruler was next to her now. And she hadn't yet forgotten the familiarity of fear she often felt whenever she came into close contact with him either, even if she had only been away for a mere week's time.

She hardly missed it.

Without warning, Joko grabbed hold of her chin while he was still adjacent to her own face with with. His clawed hands grabbed her lower face, causing her cheeks and lips to scrunch up uncomfortably. "I mean, just look at this face Ekolo! I have to admit, it's really grown on me."

Ekolo merely rolled her eyes at the shenanigans, crossing her arms across her chest towards the disturbing display of appreciation from her boss while Ogun scratched the back of his neck and looked around uncomfortably.

The healer had been caught entirely by surprise as she was previously stuck within her own conflicting thoughts with how much the being next to her desperately needed a bath. Her eyes widened the second her face had suddenly been grabbed, and her own hands flew upwards in an attempt to try and peel his leathery tar stained claws away from her, but it was to no avail.

"The troops are waiting around in the training yard outside. Where shall I send these newly trained Awakened?" Ogun suddenly asked after clearing his throat, breaking the group away from their bizarre side conversation and getting back to the task at hand. The marshal had seen more than enough of the bizarre relationship his ruler had with the woman, and it was more than he needed to sate his curiosity about it. The interaction had only proved itself as fuel to the fire for his past hypothesis as to why Joko decidedly kept the stubborn flame around.

Joko just scoffed, eyes narrowing upon seeing that his fun was over at least for now. He waved a lazy hand as he released the fleshy mounds of face and stood back up to his full height. "You can send them to the village of Twilight Oasis then. I've been notified that there have been rumors of a Sunspear uprising beginning to form within that small and pathetic encampment", he answered.

Ogun nodded back in affirmation and beckoned for the few troops that were in the room to start heading towards the exit. While the reanimated cadavers began to move out, Joko motioned towards the one random Awakened mummy closest to their group, ordering him to stay behind for the time being.

The random Awakened followed the order without hesitation, wanting nothing more than to please his eminence with eternal servitude.

"I do have one small question for you my Troopmarshal. How do my healer's skills actually fare now?" Joko asked, turning his attention back towards the woman next to him. He saw she wasn't paying attention to him anymore, as she was preoccupied with massaging the area of her face that had just been grabbed. "Is she performing at least somewhat competently now?"

"I would say so, yes", Ogun answered, unsure of where his King was going with this train of conversation. He shuffled from foot to foot, not liking where this question had the possibility of leading. He had looked towards Ekolo for support, but her impassive looking face spoke volumes that she was currently just as unsure as he was.

Joko turned on a dime before anyone in the room had the time to predict what could have happened. He turned towards the random Awakened that was ordered to stay behind, and shoved out a clawed hand as he drained the soldier's life force almost to its final limit. A dark, swell of magic danced around his arm before the action was mirrored around his target's body.

The unfortunate soldier nearly crumpled to the bone covered ground in an undignified heap as its reanimated body felt like it had suddenly lost all connection. A stray hand clutched at the air, trying to helplessly retrieve what had just been lost.

"Let us see for ourselves then, shall we? After all, you can only grow experienced from experience itself", Joko said aloud, his tone threatening. The disgustingly sweet tone he had previously been using from before was now completely devoid with no noticeable trace. He snapped a finger towards the downed Awakened. "Go and heal him, and you would best do so quickly because his life force is about to dissipate entirely."

Julianna hadn't moved at all first, still in disbelief over what had just happened right in front of her. She hadn't been expecting that unpredictable side of the lich to have shown itself so quickly after her return to the Desolation. But she quickly snapped out of her concerned thoughts, crossing over to the downed being and kneeling down closer so she was balancing on the balls of her feet.

She looked at the dilapidated and barely living corpse below her, her hands ghosting over the top of his body as she pushed magic through her arms and down into her hands. A warm blue glow enveloped her fingers as she cast a healing spell to regenerate the health that had been so quickly lost to her patient.

Her curly blonde bob of hair turned back around, daring to shoot Joko a glare before returning back to her work. But she quickly retreated from the bold action when her freckled face turned red at the sight of him just grinning at her with an all-knowing smile. She was quite glad she had been hopefully able to turn away before he could see it.

But unfortunately for her, Joko the Eternal Monarch of all, sees all.


	17. The Makings of a Plan

**I don't own anything except for my OC.**

 **Also.** Diesvitae created some real heckin' good art and you should totally go check it out. GOOD STUFF.

 **Update:** Minor fixes.

xxx

 _But unfortunately for her, Joko the Eternal Monarch of all, sees all._

xxx

After Julianna Fyre's return back to the Bone Palace once more, the next month or so fell into a semi-regular routine within the intimidating-looking structure holed up within the sulfurous wastes of the Desolation.

Palawa Joko would leave once or twice a week to go deal with political delegations against some poor sod feigning a position of higher power. Or more often occurring, the lich would leave with a large formidable battalion of his Awakened soldiers to enact a plan of attack that always ended up in complete takeover over some pathetic province or town. His reign over the continent of Elona was ever growing and he would always return with more soldiers than he originally set off with. Which of course was namely responsible from the powerful, necromantic powers that granted him the ability to raise the dead to his cause. News of his unstoppable tyranny quickly drifted on the wind, and although the Sunspear rebels were ever dwindling, they still continued to fight back with impressive vigor much to Joko's disapproval.

As expected upon his return trips to the palace, the undead ruler would come back with wounded troops which would immediately be sent to the new healer for inspection and mending. While the rebellion against his leathery, tar stained fist was on the rapid decline, it wasn't to say the fools fighting against him had counterattacked with any less difficulty.

Julianna had found out quite quickly that much like Troopmarshal Olori Ogun's training camp, the work within the palace was often endless and she had her work cut out for her. The cuts and lacerations the soldiers received from the hard-fought battles were less than pretty, and she found herself growing weary from exhaustion towards the end of each day. It was evident whenever the Awakened had gone against Sunspears as the wounds were always more dire and difficult to mend.

Many times after the countless hours of tending to Awakened soldier's wounds all day long, she would be surprised with herself to find her feet dragging her battered-looking self back into the throne room. If Joko was there and not on some mission of his own, he was quite eager to share light conversation with the easily bothered woman if he wasn't already teasing her about something else entirely. While Julianna still hadn't appreciated his constant badgering or occasional suggestive comment because of her traitorous blushing face, she found herself growing more and more accustomed to their verbal exchanges. Slowly with time, it seemed her fear of the terrifying lich had begun to ebb away, and their conversations had almost become something to look forward to at the end of a long day when none of her Awakened patients had even attempted conversation with her.

She had been especially surprised during the random time when Joko had asked about her past life, as he had been curious about the notion of any possible family she had. Though of course the genuine surprise had ended just as quickly when he wondered aloud if he could Awaken any of her late family members as more potentially fodder to his army.

During one of the days of near endless work, she had been working upon a rather dire-looking wound on Crabby, the familiar Awakened soldier she had so accurately named. She was babbling away to him about utter nonsense, though the conversation was entirely one-sided as the only response from the grumpy undead was the occasional annoyed grunt or scoff. He struggled to fathom why he of all the other Awakened had to be the one that the woman seemed to have taken a friendly liking towards.

"So, Joko was telling me about the medical properties of how cold preserves organic tissue", Julianna said, her hands warmed in a light-blue glow as she healed a tar-oozing wound on the undead's upper thigh. "Bizarre how he finds out that sort of information, you know? But I shouldn't be the one to judge the creepy bag of bones."

Crabby rolled his beady yellow eyes, hardly interested at all in her conversation even if her last comment had been in poor-taste about their glorious and magnificent ruler. The sooner his wound was healed, than the sooner he could leave her presence altogether and ignore her until he inevitably had acquired another wound for her to fix. Though next time, he would have to decide if he could be content enough with just using tar-soaked bandages instead.

He was distracted by the sound of an Awakened Archer calling something out atop a vantage point. "Merchant coming in, stand by."

Julianna looked up to see what the archer had called out about, her head turning to the side as she caught sight of a heavily-packed Doylak and a heavily clothed man walking across the bone-decorated bridge. The pack animal was saddled with an assortment of boxes and other goods, while the merchant himself was carrying a large backpack appearing to be stuffed to the absolute brim. She blinked, in disbelief that she was actually seeing another mortal come through the gates with his pack animal without being attacked recklessly upon sight.

Her dark eyes watched the merchant walking across the desolate landscape without a hair on his head being harmed, the light going off in her head as had suddenly been struck her with a plan. One that was just beginning and been on the back burner, but a plan nonetheless.

"Small victories...", she muttered under her breath with a wide smile adorning her freckled face. The light surrounding her hands, fizzled out before dissipating entirely as its caster was no longer in concentration of upholding it.

Crabby scowled upon feeling his wound begin to leak tar again and looked down, seeing the woman's attention was precisely trained on the random merchant making their way into the Bone Palace. She sat there with her hands still placed outwards, though no more magic was coming through them. The undead soldier lightly smacked the woman upside the back of her blonde head of curls, quickly catching her attention again.

"Hurry this up and quit your gawking", he scolded, shaking his armored head. "The sooner you finish this up, then the sooner I can leave."

Julianna returned the scowl with equal ferocity, sticking her tongue out and up towards the still-very grumpy Awakened. His dubbed named was still rightly fitting even after her prolonged time having known him. The light returned back into her hands, and she pushed an uncomfortable amount of magic into her palms for her patient. The reaction had been rewarding enough as he jolted back from the surge of healing magic and verbally cursed the day the woman ever stepped foot into his reanimated life.

She finished up her work on the Awakened patient and moved to the next undead already awaiting her treatment, though her brain was now weaving a delicate web of plans as she treated injuries and continued her work for the rest of the day.

xxx

Julianna was now back within her room in Bitumen Reserve as night had fallen across the grotesque-looking landscape. She sat cross-legged atop her less than comfy looking ram shackle bed, a large book splayed out on her lap as she scanned the pages. A pile of books now sat precariously atop one another on her nightstand, making the room actually look as though someone actually lived in it. Although the space was still just as drab, dark and depressing as before, it had been a place of comfort and safety for the ill-fated healer. Even from her prolonged amount of time away from it, she hadn't realized how much she had actually missed it.

The petite woman had recently bathed, although the means were impractical as she was still confined to using a bucket of pumped water and canvas rag within the corner of her room. The only good thing to come of it was because she had 'accidentally' commandeered one of the many bars of soap that Grand Vizier Utumishi's had imported from Vabbi. Before she had been using an old, scentless bar to clean herself with, but now she had the added benefit of also smelling like lavender and finely produced oils.

She turned another page of the book, sighing loudly upon seeing another large page of text rather than another map like she had secretly been hoping for. The lone torch in her room cackled with a pop, as though the inanimate flame was laughing at her misfortune.

During one of the times when Wurmmarshal Osa Ekolo had come by the Bone Palace to deliver news about the war-effort, she had brought the healer a near-armful of literature for her to take. Julianna had been near speechless at the gesture, as kindness and generosity was often an incredibly rare thing to have been found among both her mortal and undead peers. The books had consisted of Elonian history and folklore, both of which had been interesting enough topics to keep the Outlander satisfied for months to come.

Ekolo had shared with the healer that during one of the many times when Joko had been prattling on about her, he had mentioned the time when he caught the healer looking through the books left on the table near the Wurmmarshal's appointed chair in the throne room. But rather than be angry about having her personal items being looked through without her permission, the female Awakened had instead brought back books to share instead.

Julianna had been remained standing there looking star-struck towards the tall female Awakened for quite some time when she had been gifted them, as she struggled to get by a way of verbal thanks. It had completely caught her off guard, and the unusual disposition had helped kindle something to that of a mentor that the woman could eventually find herself confiding more and more to.

The healer's head snapped up upon hearing the door open, a sigh of relief to see that it wasn't Joko. Her look of relief was quickly replaced with annoyance when she saw Utumishi standing there instead though. While she had grown some kind of friendly relationship with one of the three Marshals, her connection with the slimy adviser had been about the same since she had first met him. Her jaw clenched, and her mouth set itself in a hard line.

"Don't you have someone else's business to go stick your nose in?" she asked, a scowl on her face as she watched the man awkwardly stand in the door frame. Unless he had wizened up about her recent thievery exploits, he would have had no reason to have been bothering her.

He looked surprised for but a mere second, before his confused face returned to that of an similar looking annoyed one to contest the value of the stubborn little woman. His light-colored eyes darkened considerably, as he could feel his mood instantly drain and he crossed his arms across his chest.

"Ah, I forgot this room was occupied", Utumishi said, his voice sound nearly detached as he motioned a hand towards the still-nervous looking merchant right behind him. "Come along then, I forgot this room had a pest infestation."

"Very funny..." Julianna asked, raising a brow towards the familiar-looking stranger as curiosity now got the better of her. Mortal men and woman were a rare commodity among a structure of walking cadaver-like beings. "Someone that can actually stand your company Utumishi? That's actually shocking."

"Look, don't mind me none. I'm just a merchant, hardly anyone of importance here", the ragged-looking man answered, trying to distill the apparent rivalry between the two as he held up his hands. His skin was dark and tanned from all the traveling underneath the wicked Elonian sun, as the hair and bushy-looking beard on his face was also a good indication of his occupation. A wide-brimmed hat sat upon his head, adorned with a lone Moa feather sticking out the side of it.

He continued, looking around at the room as he hefted his traveling bag to fit upon his shoulder more comfortably. "I bring in supplies every month to restock the Bone Palace stores in the storage room down the hallway. And because of the longer journey, I usually stay just a night before heading off again in the morning with my Doylak."

Utumishi had look incredibly bothered with the two's conversation, rolling his eyes at the woman's knack for asking too many questions. "If you don't mind, I would like to retire to my room sometime _tonight_. We'd best be off, there's another empty room down the hallway you can use instead."

The merchant nodded, tipping his hat towards Julianna before quickly shuffling himself back into the hallway again. He wasn't here to make enemies with anyone, and he certainly didn't plan on suddenly starting anytime soon. His relationship with those in the Bone Palace was well-off enough, and he wanted to keep it that way since his entire livelihood was on the line otherwise.

The wormy adviser turned back around one last time though as he stepped back through the door, shooting a hateful glare to the lout sitting upon the bed and making a disgusted face towards her.

Julianna reacted to the ugly scowl quite quickly, and grabbed hold of her musty pillow before preparing to throw it towards the bald head in a fit of her usual retaliation. The man must have learned from past experiences what her plan was the second her hand had touched the pillow though, and he quickly left and slammed the door before he could be hit with the bundle of worn feathers and dust. He made sure to mutter a rather loud, colorful comment under his breath about her just before the door closed.

She returned back to her book, but not ten seconds had gone by before the door opened again and his face popped right back back in.

"Also, did you take some of my expensive soaps?" Utumishi accused, glaring daggers into the actual pest of a woman as he sniffed the air again. He could have sworn he had recognized the smell, but he wasn't entirely sure.

"Our oh-so wonderful and benevolent King Joko said I could indulge", she teased, mocking the adviser's voice whenever he used the nickname for the undead ruler.

Utumushi pinched the bridge of his nose in sheer frustration and glowered. "While I certainly don't believe you for a single second... fine, whatever. I have more important matters to attend to anyway."

He slammed the door a second time upon leaving.

Julianna shook her head, returning back to her book for a third time.

Seeing the familiar face of the traveling merchant again had the gears turning in her head as that blueprint of an idea came bubbling up once more. The puzzle pieces of her plan were beginning to fall into place, and all she had left to do was to enact them.

But there was one, incredibly bothersome problem that continually nagged at her and was eating away at her conscious ever so slowly.

Guilt.


	18. A Bribe and a Drink

**I don't own anything except for my OC.**

 **Updates:** Fixes.

xxx

 _There was one, incredibly bothersome problem though that continually nagged her and was eating away at her conscious ever so slowly._

 _Guilt._

xxx

Julianna had waited behind in her room, the open pages of her book still open on top of her lap as she attuned her ears to listen to the outside hallway. She had been re-reading the same paragraph at least a dozen times over now, as her focus had been entirely elsewhere in her long-standing thinking since Utumushi and the merchant had left her room.

As the pieces of her plan were finally falling into place, she was second guessing herself about the purpose of going through trying to escape her predicament as though the answer weren't blatantly in front of her face. She hadn't asked for this position in working as a healer for an undead tyrant that resembled more to that of a monster than an actual ruler. Her home had been within Lion's Arch in a time once before, and she had been comfortably working within a small clinic that catered to traveling vendors, farmers and pirates. Never in her dull, yet satisfyingly adequate life, would she have thought she was going to end up healing the wounds of walking undead soldiers instead.

When she had answered the call for those with any sort of healing abilities to come help with the aftershock of the tumultuous effects that had occurred in Elona, her bleeding heart had been more than eager to help those in need. And while she hadn't been expected to have been willingly dragged along on a volunteer mission with a group of Sunspear heroes that were looking to take down a powerful lich, she didn't have the heart to turn them down and allow them to walk into the mess without at least some form of support on their side.

Though she truly had no idea what sort of chaos they were walking into it.

Unfortunately her value of support hadn't been successful in the end anyway, as her lack of proper healing skills had allowed her teammates to be slain before she even had even gained the chance to do anything. Even though the group of heroes and volunteers were still greatly outmatched against their foe, Julianna remained plagued by the thoughts of knowing that she could have potentially done more. At the end of it all, rather than falling alongside her comrades as she should have, she had been mercifully kept alive to follow through with Palawa Joko's demand to sustain the longevity of his growing army by healing their injuries instead.

As such, escape from his terrifying grasp had been a long time coming as she had lost sight of her past life and wanted to return to it once more.

But yet there was still a disturbing amount of guilt eating away at her.

Julianna sighed, slamming shut the book and closing the internal battle inside her head. She figured that the longer she sat here stewing over it, then the greater chances would be that she wouldn't follow through with what she needed to do. The book was replaced with its brethren upon the tall stack next to her bed and she slipped off the bed, her bare feet hitting the cold stone floor. She made a short stop to the rotting-looking chest at the end of her bed, rummaging around in its contents before finding what she had been looking for and neatly tucking the item into the hem of her pants.

Her blonde bob peaked out into the long corridor after opening the door to her room, looking up and down for any sign of a person either living or dead. The air was still, and there wasn't a sound to be heard anywhere except for the occasional cackle of torch. She bit her lower lip, slipping outside and making sure the flimsy excuse of a door didn't noisily slam shut behind her. The last thing she would have needed was someone to have caught her red-handed during this part of her carefully hatched together plan.

The small woman walked down the hallway and began her search for the merchant's temporary room as she didn't know where he was temporarily residing. She stopped in front of each door and pressed her ear up against them as she listened for any movement. From what she knew after a month of living down here, Grand Vizier Utumishi and herself were the only two mortals that occupied the basement below the Bone Palace, so it helped eliminated the chances of needing to be more careful about barging into a random room the second she heard anything.

Eventually she happened upon the door right across from the storage room, pausing again to put her ear up against it to listen to the noise inside. Instead of hearing nothing this time though, she had heard the shuffling of busy feet as someone was moving around in the room.

She smiled in victory and quickly knocked, turning to closely watch the pair of large gilded doors just adjacent to her as she waited for a response. Of course the largest and most expensive looking ones had belonged to Joko, which was no surprise to anyone given his high-ranking status and desire to have the most grandiose looking things in his name. From past experience, she had heard the Scourge enter and close them many times before when she had been attempting sleep, but she herself had never stepped foot inside his personal domain.

And she wasn't certain she ever wanted to.

The merchant opened his door suddenly, his face contorted into a mix of confusion when he saw the familiar-looking woman again. "Ah, the little healer from before. Can I help you?"

She moved past him before even answering him, fearful now that Joko could have heard her if he happened to have been within his room. "I just have a teeny-tiny, but really important request for you. But please, let's discuss it inside."

The man watched her slip past him into his temporary space before he could even get a chance to say anything further, leaving him to stand there and be slightly taken aback by how bold she was. He blinked, merely observing as she stood in the middle of his room and was now examining the state of the place.

"How is it that your room still looks better than my own?" Julianna muttered offhand, looking around at the bare contents of it. "I shouldn't be as surprised to see that Utumishi probably sought to give me the worst room available down here. Typical leech..."

The door was closed again, the merchant sighing and crossing his arms across his heavy buttoned trench coat. He hardly trusted the stubbornly obtrusive woman, even if she had been an anomaly in that she was a living person among the undead. But he trusted her even less upon knowing she had some bizarre, yet close connection to their intimidating monarch.

"So... you mentioned a request?" he began, clearing his throat. "That isn't really how traveling merchants work. I mean, you would probably have to get it cleared with the adviser first anyway, and even then-"

Julianna held up a single finger, silencing him before he could get another word in.

She reached into her belt, procuring the expensive, gilded dagger that had been the very same one on display in Utumishi's room. She had swiped it some weeks ago around the same time she had commandeered the soap, as the adviser has been none the wiser even though the cluttered shelf had been holding an empty pedestal upon it since then. The man had hoarded so many expensive things in his quaint little room, that it was no surprise at all that he still hadn't noticed its disappearance.

The merchant's eyes widened as they could immediately see the value on the decorative weapon. A weathered, sun spot ridden hand reached out to touch the blade just a few feet away, but he was snapped from his blind greed when the woman suddenly pulled it back and waved a finger to him once more.

"You can have the shiny, but we have to make a fair deal first", Julianna began, brows furrowing together. She hadn't come this far just to hand over a pretty-looking weapon for nothing. Though she still partially felt bad for using something with monetary value to bribe her a way out of this demise. She figured perhaps some of Joko's manipulative persuasion was beginning to wear off on her.

"Just one of those jewels on that weapon's hilt would allow me never work again for the years to come. What would you ask of me?", the merchant said, nearly drooling in delight at his daydreaming. If it had meant never returning to the desolate wastes of this landscape, then he would gladly take the woman's strange, but inciting offer.

"When you depart, what direction do you return back towards?" she asked, thinking back to the map she had seen Troopmarshal Olori Ogun looking over when she had been in his camp for required training.

"Just north of here some ways", he answered, scratching his chin in thought for what she was trying to get at.

Julianna was nearly beaming at the answer, pleased to hear it was the exact direction she needed to go as well if she were to escape. She continued. "Then in return for this dagger, would you allow me to sneak out with you tomorrow morning whenever you leave?" she asked, raising a high brow and keeping the weapon out of arm's reach.

"And you think none of the Awakened or that bald, little adviser fellow won't notice you leaving?" the merchant slowly asked. He was beginning to mull over his answer as he still didn't know much of the woman apart from what he had already been told.

"I think you're overestimating their awareness to most things. Especially Utumishi", the healer countered quickly, narrowing her eyes towards the taller human. "Look, if it makes you feel any better, I'm their doctor and I work around them nearly every day, so just... trust me on this, okay?"

"It isn't the regular Awakened troops that I'm worried about. It's the very all-powerful and terrifying one in that I'm the most concerned about", the merchant continued, voice sounding miffed as he crossed his arms back across his chest.

He didn't need to say the ruler's name, the fear in his voice was proof enough of who he was talking an it. "You don't think he would notice you walking out of his kingdom? Utumishi had mentioned how often he's seen you casually talking to him almost whenever you get the opportunity. He said you two seem fairly clo-"

"He won't notice either. And if he does, I'll be long gone before that", the healer interrupted, ignoring the warmth she could feel blooming on her face. The damned Scourge had succeeded in making her blush like a fool even when he wasn't around. "Look, give me some credit here. This isn't some last minute plan I just thought up of tonight."

"Why escape though, if you don't mind me asking? You seem to live pretty comfortable here", he countered, looking her up and down as he considered her appearance. Especially the part about the pinkish hue splattered across her freckled face. It spoke words about whatever relationship she had with the ruler, but he wasn't going to pry. She still had it better than most out in the unforgiving desert.

"Long story short, I wasn't actually given a choice when I was made to be a a healer for Joko and his Awakened army. And I hardly live comfortably here", Julianna replied back, inhaling a deep breath and closing her eyes as she pinched her temple to halt painful memories from resurfacing.

She held out the dagger again in offering. "Do we have a deal or not?"

The merchant's mouth formed almost an invisible line over his scarred, bearded face.

"Grenth take me if he does find out, and comes after my hide so as to spill my blood", the merchant said, eyeing the woman and then to the bribe she held out towards him. If she hadn't enticed such an tempting object, he wouldn't have ever considered her daring request.

He continued, voice sounding serious and without tone. "You better be right about him not looking for you, or else there will be hell to pay. Probably for the both of us."

"I doubt it", she finalized, watching as the merchant nodded and carefully took hold of the dagger.

Julianna was completing big victories for herself now, and things seemed to finally be going in the right direction.

But she should have known better at this point than to sit on that comfort for very long.

xxx

"Imp gall..." she muttered the second she stepped foot outside and nearly walked straight into the intricately dressed lich himself. She should have expected as much.

"Well, well, well. What a surprise this is. I was on my way back to indulge in some spirits after this long and harrowing day. Do indulge for once and come share a drink with me, I insist", Joko began, the instruction sounding more like an order than an offer. He walked off before she even had a chance to say no, knowing more than well that he expected her to tag along.

Predictably, she stubbornly stood her ground for a few prolonged seconds before sighing in affirmation of what she was about to get herself into it. She walked quickly to catch back up with him in the short distance, deciding she didn't really have a choice in the matter anyway. Her plan wasn't going to fall into motion until the next morning anyway, so spending some time with the lich wasn't going to conflict with her schedule.

The similar occurrence reminded her of when she had first known him when they were walking through the wake of the Desolation upon their return to the Bone Palace for the very first time. His strides were obviously longer than hers, but just like in those times past, he had slowed down so she could walk more comfortably alongside next to him.

The two continued down the torch-lined hallway, the undead's much taller height dwarfing her own smaller one as their shadows were elongated on the walls from the torch light.

"I'm curious, what inevitable business could you have possibly had in that room?" Joko suddenly asked, his head slightly turning as he looked down towards the short woman walking next to him. He watched bemused as she fiddled with the ring on the her middle finger.

"I wanted to ask the traveling merchant that comes through every month if he could look for some particular items to bring back the next time he came through", she answered semi-truthfully, though it was sitting upon a bundled string of lies. She bit the inside of her cheek and watched the variation of light pass by, keeping eye contact away from the still intimidating being next to her. There was still a tiny trickle of fear that was felt whenever she was in his presence.

"Oh-ho, so it sounds as though you were becoming quite friendly with him then?" he teased, moving out his arms expressively as the suggestive hint was loud and clear. "I didn't think you actually hated my company so much that you would divulge in such a matter."

Julianna's head had whipped back around like a crack of lightning, as her dark eyes widened in surprise before narrowing tightly. "That isn't what happened at all!" she countered back, face burning at the obvious tease to get under her skin. She hated how good he had gotten at that, as he knew exactly how to push her buttons in all the wrong ways.

The undead ruler said nothing more about the matter, chuckling to himself at how easily bothered the woman had gotten with that short comment and finally stopping when they had reached their destination. Joko prided himself on still being able to find ways to bother her even after a month had passed for it fed the flame of entertainment for him. He opened the one of the two large doors, keeping it slightly held ajar as he waited for his healer to step through into his personal quarters.

She didn't even need to duck under his limb as she stepped under and continued walking through. Her still-bare feet moved into the room a little ways more before stopping to look around as though there were a live splinter mine hiding away somewhere. She flinched when she heard the door close behind her, the sealing sound echoing throughout the space as she realized her current predicament and took the moment to absorb it all in.

Alone with the most powerful, and still-rightly intimidating being in all of Elona and about to share a drink with him in his personal quarters.

Koss would be laughing back in the damned cave right about now.


	19. Kiss of Death

**I don't own anything except for my OC.**

 **Update** : Fixin' stuff.

xxx

 _Alone with the most powerful, and still-rightly intimidating being in all of Elona and about to share a drink with him in his personal quarters._

xxx

The room was decorated in a bizarre mix of the macabre and the ornate, as bone-covered furniture and decoration littered most of the entirety of the room. High above, numerous banners were woven across the ceiling, giving the impression of some intricately woven spiderweb of expensive-looking cloth. While the space looked wretched with its displays of the dead, it was surprisingly still bright as a large candle-lit, bone chandelier hung from the middle of ceiling and far away from any of the banners. Most of the surrounding walls in the room were placed with stuffed bookshelves that looked to be containing various sorts of tomes and old-looking books. The other empty sections of the walls were otherwise adorned with finely painted portraits of the Bone Palace's undead ruler.

Julianna's dark colored eyes darted about as she observed the layout of the place for the first time. From what she could see, the first section of the room was composed of a large study area that was fitted with a desk on one side of the room. She looked around, noting there was also another smaller set of closed doors near the back middle wall between two large stone busts, which she concluded that the area beyond must have led into the ruler's own personal bedroom area.

She frowned and fiddled with the ring on her finger again as thoughts led back to once upon a time when she had heard the undead megalomaniac walking down the hallway to this exact location with a couple of nightly escorts. Unfortunately for them, they had suffered Joko's wrath for whatever innate reason, and hadn't been around to see the next morning.

"There better not be any dead bodies in here...", she mumbled, looking around again with hesitance as she refused to make eye contact with him while he continued hovering around the door. Her nose inhaled the smell of the air, finding that it was musty but held a strong lingering odor of incense sticks that almost masked the former unpleasant one.

Joko snorted as he heard the comment under her breath, remembering back to when he had decimated the two woman because they had annoyed him terribly during a random escapade. He knew it certainly wasn't his fault that he had lashed out in a fit of temperamental rage upon overhearing they had lightly joked about the ill-be after effects of potentially sleeping with the most powerful ruler in the nation. But the look on Julianna's face later on the next day when she had realized it was their own blood that had been staining his outfit rather than his own, had been near delightful and made up for the lack of two bodies to warm his bed for the previous night.

He brought himself back to current time and crossed his tar-stained arms across his chest before pretending to actually look offended as he walked across the room.

"Only the remains of the dead rest within this space", Joko commented aloud, moving towards his over-sized desk and looking around the lower cabinets in search of some decently strong drink. He shoved some bottles aside, looking around for some specifically for a potent Vabbian red wine of some such.

He continued, his tone now sounding disgustingly jovial. "And now their remains are used to decorate my room, which has become quite the quaint adobe, if I do say so myself."

Julianna clicked her tongue in abhorrence at hearing his disturbing deeds, moving across the rug littered floor to go examine one of the bookshelves while he busied himself to fix drinks for the two of them.

She looked up at all the titles sitting in front of her on the shelf, judging the lack of dusting that went on in the room when she could see how muddled the books looked. But upon closer inspection, see could see it was just from the wear and tear of age that made them look as though they were nearly falling apart. She looked from section to section towards the ones her eyes could actually reach, seeing that most of the literature had comprised of all looking incredibly ancient.

"A lot of these books and tomes look quite aged?" she asked, curiosity getting the better of her as a finger moved towards one of the spines.

"An immortal lich accumulates quite a lot of literature in their time", Joko replied simply, hardly paying attention as he was pouring alcohol into two goblets now. He had settled on picking out some aged bottle that had been sitting in the far back of the cabinet, not even pausing to read the label of what it was. He figured the damned thing had probably been around longer than the woman herself.

"Well, I guess that just means you must be pretty experienced", she said aloud, not thinking over the potential backlash from her innocent comment as she observed the almost illegible worn text of a book spine. She stood atop her toes and pulled it out from its confines of brethren, opening it up to some random page as she tried reading the impossible text inside.

"In many ways, yes", he replied back without skipping a beat, a coy smile on his face as he stood behind the desk and finished topping off his own drink after pouring hers. Even from across the room, he could see her entire form freeze up as she obviously understood the hidden layer of suggestion behind his comment. He watched with amusement as she slammed the book closed with a huff and pretended to browse titles again, though her flustered person had easily been caught by his keen eyes.

Truly nothing she did had escaped him at this point.

He grabbed his now filled glass, keeping the bottle on standby and sat down in the plush, bone-decorated chair. He assumed his company must have heard him settle down for she quickly put an end to her current librarian charade and finally came over to join him in the chair across the desk. He said nothing more, watching with feigned interest as she seated herself on the other side of the desk and slowly reached out to grab the filled goblet.

Julianna nearly coughed on the drink when it reached her lips, her face nearly shriveling up when she could taste how strong the beverage was. Her mouth contorted uncomfortably as she allowed the wine to linger on her palette before judging too harshly. The alcohol intake was also suddenly reminding her of how little food was in her stomach, since the last time she had eaten was when she had snacked on some dried rations in the early afternoon. She knew drinking on an empty stomach probably wasn't going to be the best idea, but it was far too late now to turn back anyway.

Joko hardly seemed to care about her initial reaction to the drink as he had already downed one glass and was already pouring himself another. Even with the stronger drink, it would take a bit before he could feel the effects of it himself.

"So, what of your shoulder injury?" he asked, causing a brow to raise on the woman's face. He had been a bit taken aback as she slowly moved part of her shirt away to reveal exposed skin. He could see that the top of her shoulders were about just as freckled as the rest of her face, and he tucked away that observational note deep in the recesses of his brain

"It just looks like a nasty bruise now, though there's still a scar leftover which means the ligaments must have healed quite nicely", she said, her thumb brushing over the light line now marring her shoulder blade from where the dagger had pierced through muscle. The area around it still held some stray, dark sinewy looking lines from the necromanctic healing magic that had been used.

The woman had been unabashed by her own action, the conversation as seemingly normal as any doctor divulging the details about a concerning wound on their patient. She had moved the piece of cloth back over far too soon for the lich's own liking, but he made no further comment about it and shifted in his seat.

The two continued with the light conversation, falling into the similarity with the end-day shared conversations whenever the opportunity had offered itself. When a mere half hour had passed, the effects of inebriation had already been well in-effect for the empty stomached mender. Her freckled face was blotted with a light pink hue, and her mood had become increasingly giddy and far more bold once she reached her second drink. Joko meanwhile had doubled her in at four drinks already, though he had only been feeling a light buzz at this point in time. It had been one of the few drawbacks in elongating the life to becoming immortal.

"Would you have actually thrown me into the mouth of... one of those... wurm things?" she asked, her hand moving around expressively as she struggled to think of the actual name of the creature. She wasn't incredibly drunk yet, though she knew she was getting there quickly by the way she was struggling to remember things.

"You mean the Junundu? Who knows, would you like to test that theory right now?" he taunted back. He had been leaning forward on the desk with a closed hand supporting his chin while the other held his drink.

"Very funny. I think we both know that.. you wouldn't do such a thing though", she countered back, the alcohol in her system giving her some support to boldly retaliate. She leaned back in her chair, her lower lip pouting outward as she waited for him to make a move.

She bravely continued when he didn't say or do anything though, she herself hardly skipping a beat and taking another drink from the goblet. "I think... you actually appreciate my company too much for that to happen."

"You're oh-so right. After all, there would be much more time-efficient and cost effective ways to eliminate your meager life", he sarcastically replied back in his gravely low tone, outstretching a clawed hand towards her as strands of magic began dispersing from his hand and dancing around in willowy threads. There was a light green color emanating from the dark magic, lighting up the woman's face across from him.

Julianna was quickly shot back down from her shortly lived and high-appointed seat as the confident smirk she had been wearing was replaced with uncertainty. In her haze, she thought back to how Utumishi once mentioned how terrifyingly unpredictable the Scourge was when alcohol was involved. It had been inexplicably proven too when she found out one of the Vabbian Princes had been murdered overnight because the noble hadn't appreciated one of the undead ruler's theater jokes.

She could see now that his mood had changed drastically quick in that moment, though she supposed it was deserved considering she dangled the bait she held in front of his face. The woman pouted, slumping lower into her seat as she cradled her glass with both hands.

"You got your question, so now I have mine. Satisfy my curiosity and answer me this, are you still near-deathly afraid of me?" Joko asked, placing his cup down as the out-of-left field question cutting through the thick tension now sitting in the air between them. The thought had been rolling around in his head the past few weeks now, as some part of him had been missing how utterly terrified she had once been of him.

Though such a thing was only countered by her ability to actually still be incredibly stubborn and retaliative around the likes of him.

Julianna mulled the answer around for a long time in her head. She watched his unreadable face before turning her attention to stare into her almost-empty goblet.

"No, I suppose not...", she answered quite truthfully, tracing a finger around the edge of her glass while in her slumped position. Indeed her initial fear of the terrifying lich had ebbed away with the combination of both time and banter between the two of them. Though she herself questioned why she hadn't tried fleeing at an earlier time, but she always came back to the answer that the golden opportunity had never presented itself.

 _"At least it hadn't until earlier tonight..."_ , she thought to herself as her brows scrunched together, thinking back to the offer she had made with the traveling merchant.

Even though Palawa Joko was an absolutely terrible monster who had completely uprooted her previous life for the sake of his own personal benefit, Julianna found that she hadn't truly loathed his person as much as she should have.

"Then prove it", Joko replied near immediately after her response, the corners of his mouth nearly stretching impossibly wide across the weathered lines on his mummy-like face.

"What...?" Julianna asked, sounding to be in disbelief as she quickly sat back up in her chair, the blood rushing to her brain all too fast. Her mouth felt as though it had gone dry as the question had repeated itself over and over again in her head.

He didn't echo his order again though, his elbows moving back and resting atop the armrests as he kept his clawed fingers intricately laced together hear his lap as he patiently awaited for the stubborn little flame to do something as he knew she would.

The healer remained still as she stewed in the muck of her problem for a few long moments, before allowing her headstrong personality to completely take over and annihilate any renaming rational thoughts she had. She felt her legs moving before her brain could even comprehend what she was even doing and set her empty glass upon the desk as she moved around the piece of furniture.

Joko's opaque, indigo colored eyes watched, a curious brow raising high underneath his headdress as the woman walked around the desk before rooting herself to stand right in front of him. It was almost near comical now that even in his seated position, her much shorter height was now on almost equal-eye level to him.

She did indeed do something, and it wasn't something the Scourge had been expecting at all.

Before he even had time to open his mouth and ask about what she was planning in that bothersome head of hers, her mouth had been upon his in a matter of seconds.

For an undead lich, his own physical form was always cold to the touch as the majority of his body heat was no longer regulated to keep his delicate internal system pumping and alive. It was like a reverse branded iron, as his cold skin instead was heated by the enveloping warmth radiating off from the mortal in front of him. The feeling was only increased when he felt her hands moved to each side of his face as she held him in place.

He savored the sudden warmth coming off her form, selfishly wanting to keep it all for himself as he no longer had such attributes. To say that he had been taken aback would have been an understatement, as he hadn't predicted that his long-term ploy for the tight wrapping of manipulation around his finger for such things would have fallen into place so abruptly.

Julianna meanwhile was still coping with the feeling of cold, flesh upon her own lips as it had been an completely new experience. Her mouth had melded against his own lip-ring decorated one, her eyes closed as the entirety of the macabre-decorated room around her seemed to have disappeared in that moment and she was lost in an entirely new place. Her hazed senses were nearly overwhelmed by the all-too familiar smell of an expensive fragrance's attempt at masking the smell of death and decomposition.

Joko's own mouth had just started the counterattack to the one against his own, as he could taste the last, sweetened remnants of the wine upon the woman's stained lips. His clawed hands were just about to move out on their own to wrap themselves around the enticing person in front of him to further this sudden alliance along, but they stopped themselves in midair when the sound of his door opening with haste broke the silence of the room. A noise of disappointment escaped his throat when the woman in front of him jolted back in surprise as though she had been suddenly scalded by fire.

Utumishi nearly came barreling into the room the second he had pried the door open. Because of harrowing past experiences that had nearly scalded his very own eyes, the short man knew better than to intrude before knocking. But this had been a time of utmost urgency for the adviser.

"Oh, my. Excuse the interruption my magnificent king, but something desperately requires your attention", he said upon seeing the interrupted scene on the other side of the room. It had been quite apparent what had been going on given Julianna's bright red face and the two's proximity to each other.

Joko's glare could have cut through bedrock, as the wormy little man's comment had quite the obvious hidden underlining to it. He was going to throw the piece of walking flesh into the lowest pit of the Boneyard when their conversation was all said and done here.

"You better have a good reason for coming in here Utumishi", Joko said, his tone of voice near deathly as a dangerous undertone was sitting right underneath it. His eyes moved back to stare at the companion in front of him, narrowing slightly when he could see the woman was diverting her attention on some random spot on the wall behind him as per her usual antics. He should have expected as much.

"There's a concerning matter in Vabbi that requires your utmost urgency. It seems that the brat of a princess, Tahlkora, is stirring up trouble again", Utumishi continued, fixing the collar of his outfit as he cleared his throat. "I can give you the details on the way there, but I would suggest we leave promptly before matters are made worse."

While the adviser hadn't been too thrilled about the prospect of leaving at such a later hour in the night, he also wasn't going to even attempt to endure the wrath of his God-King if he allowed the issue to sit and stew over the night. He knew his ruler had a nasty bit of conflict already going on with Tahlkora, as the Vabbian so-called hero had been a never ending thorn in his side for months on end.

"Again?" Joko asked, allowing his eyes to linger on Julianna's flustered-looking face before moving back to the other mortal standing near the center of his study. He wanted nothing more than to delve into that brain of hers and divulge into what she was thinking right now but it seemed there were more pressing matters at hand he needed to deal with.

"Unfortunately so", Utumishi answered back, crossing his arms behind his back. "It seems the killing of Koss and those other Sunspear heroes did not go unnoticed. There has been plenty of rumors speculating she is trying to bolster the morale of the remaining rebels."

Joko's hand clenched tightly into a fist, the pointed ends of his fingers threatening to break the toughed skin on his palm. "Utumishi, you are to stay behind and watch over things here at the Bone Palace, as I have no one else to take charge for the time being", he ordered to his trusted lackey as he moved to stand. "I don't imagine this little excursion will take too terribly long, perhaps a few days time at best. We'll see how that bratty Vabbian princess enjoys being a martyr when she doesn't have the tongue to wag around anymore."

Julianna was finally brought out from her stupor as the lich's crucial words hit her ears. She blinked, listening to the vital information about how he was going to be on leave for the next couple of days or so.

" _That couldn't have aligned more perfectly with the plan..._ " she thought.. " _l'll be long gone before he even realizes I've left. I just have to worry about Utumishi, which won't even be a bother because I know he won't even make the attempt to keep an eye on me._ "

She had been so entirely lost within her own conflicting personal thoughts both about her plan and what had just happened, that she hadn't even noticed the lich across from her had been standing just inches away from her now. The shorter woman was back to being eye-level with his lower torso again.

Utumishi quickly got the hint from the dangerous looking-glare he received from his ruler and he turned to retreat back to the hole from where he crawled out from.

Joko patted the top of her bouncy short hair once the two were alone again. "You know, I was expecting something more tart", he said with a wide smile, causing the woman to snap out of her stupor again as she looked up towards him. His suggestive comment was rewarded by the woman crossing her arms across her chest and making a scrunched up face towards him since she knew all too well what he had just been referring to.

The lich chuckled, deciding her rebuttal had been a slight variation compared to the usual of her sticking her tongue out. He merely shook his head as the ornaments on his headpieces clattered around. As much as he didn't want to, he decided against not doing further for their interrupted situation before stepping around the woman and heading back into the hallway. He was looking forward to finally getting to deal with this new Tahlkora problem presented to him, because it had been a prevalent issue that continued to rear its ugly head and he had long wished to have it finally dealt with.

"We'll have to finish this up another time then", he replied, waving an expressive tar-stained hand back toward his healer as he passed through the doors.

Julianna was left to awkwardly stand in the study, listening to the sound of Joko's chill-inducing cackle all the way down the hallway.

" _We'll see about that..._ " she thought to herself as she bit the inside of her cheek and listened to the remnants of his laugh echo off the walls.

She certainly had a lot to think about between now and the next morning.


	20. Departing

**I don't own anything except for my OC.**

xxx

 _"We'll have to finish this up another time then", he replied, waving an expressive tar-stained hand back toward his healer as he passed through the doors._

Julianna had quickly retired back to her room shortly after the occurrence had happened with Joko in his office. She had left the study feeling more confused with herself than ever, but she merely brushed it aside as a side effect from the consumption of alcohol on an empty stomach. The woman returned back to her dreary-looking room, throwing herself atop the bed as she attempted to shut her brain off from all the conflicting thoughts, though it remained an impossible feat. She continually fiddled around with the ring on her finger as she stared at the rocky surface of the ceiling, her thoughts constantly going back in circles about the transgression that had occurred between her and Joko, as well as the premise of her escape come the next morning.

She groaned aloud, the feeling of a headache coming forth as she pinched the bridge of her nose in a vain attempt to alleviate it.

"Doylak spit..." she cursed aloud, closing her eyes.

 _"I would kill for some peppermint tea for my head right about now though..."_ , she mused to herself, thinking back to the store room down the hall. _"There's no way I'm going to be able to fall asleep the rest of tonight anyway."_

She shoved herself back off the bed, deciding to take this unwanted opportunity of time to pull together a small canvas bag that would contain a small, necessary assortment of goods for the upcoming trip. She wasn't too familiar with the knowledge of packing the right amount of necessary equipment for a longer journey, but she figured she could at least pull something together.

There was a desperation to keep herself busy before the guilt ate away at her too much. Even though realistically, she knew she had nothing to be even remotely guilty for given she had no say about the matter of becoming a healer for an Awakened army of soldiers back when she was unwillingly recruited. But there was still the unpleasant fact only she herself had helped culture, which was by growing the bizarre connection she had with the terrifying, undead Monarch, and deep down she knew that was entirely her own fault.

xxx

The merchant opened his door upon hearing a hurried knock, slightly taken aback to see the familiar face of the healer so soon. He sighed, his own biological clock of interrupted sleep telling him the sun probably hadn't even risen over the horizon yet as was now remembering back to the deal he had made with her the night before. He was beginning to have second thoughts given that the moment was upon him.

"Right... I've got some extra baggage coming along with me on the way back...", he said without second thought, clicking his tongue. He looked to her appearance, frowning to see she was hardly dressed appropriately for someone that was trying to leave the confines of the Desolation and beyond for some uncertain amount of time. She was donned in the same outfit he last saw her in, which was a simple shirt and baggy pants but the only difference now was that she had a scarf and a canvas bag slung across her shoulder. At least she had some sort of supplies with her, though he imagined it wouldn't last her more than a couple days at best.

"What?" she asked innocently, sensing his eyes dragging up and down her body. She reached up and adjusted the scarf around her neck. "I figured the scarf would work well enough. And I can wrap it around my head as a hood if I really need."

The merchant muttered something under his breath, shrugging off his large trench coat of a jacket before handing it to her. "Here, wear this. It'll do a way better job at hiding you."

Julianna held up the over sized coat in front of her, raising a brow at the gesture.

"An extra precaution, in case what you said about the Awakened not noticing wasn't true after all", he motioned, crossing his arms and waiting for her to don the coat. "Just wear it until we get past the Bone Wall, there will be less Awakened around at that point and I'm not taking any chances."

She playfully stuck her tongue out towards him before pulling the dusty piece of clothing on. It reeked of dust and musty sweat, but she wasn't going to complain at this point since the man was finally getting her out of this hellscape. And for all she knew, this could have been her only chance to do so successfully considering the perfect timing of Joko leaving to go deal with an important matter of his own.

"Well, not the best fit, but it'll do", Julianna said, looking down at herself as she was practically swimming in the clothing. It'd be a near miracle if anyone could even recognize her in this coat.

"It gives me some peace of mind for what we're about to do", the merchant replied in a dry tone of voice. "By the way, since we never properly introduced, my name is Almasi."

"Mine is-"

"Julianna Fyre, I know", he intervened before she could finish. "Grand Vizier Utumishi spoke not too kindly of you."

"Of course he did...", she muttered, putting her hands atop her hips and glaring at the nearby wall. If there was one thing she wasn't going to miss even a single fiber of, it was the damnable wormy adviser she had come to detest over the past month or so.

She continued after the short awkward silence between the two of them, remembering back to how the merchant had referred to Joko from the night before. "The, 'very all-powerful and terrifying undead' left sometime last night for a sudden last-minute errand, if that eases your conscious at all. The timing couldn't be any better for my sudden departure of this place."

Almasi cleared his throat. "That is good news, so we better set off then. I still need to get my Doylak packed back up before we depart. Hopefully your undead friends have been kind to my beast during the night."

The two quickly set off down the dimly lit hallway, walking side by side each other as Julianna began fixing the scarf over her head and lower half of her face to conceal herself even better.

Her hope was that this would be the last time she would ever be walking down this all-too familiar yet well-worn path. The small victories that she had been attaining over the weeks had now evolved into the desired final escape that she had carefully been planning behind backs, and she was excited for it to have finally been in effect.

"Big victories now...", she reminded herself, a wide smile hidden behind the stained red scarf.

xxx

Only a mere, couple of days had passed since Palawa Joko's departure to Vabbi to go deal with the unruly Sunspear hero, Talkhora as she had been causing an uproar of trouble within his name. If all had gone well, he was expected to return within the next few days and there would be no more up-stir from the bothersome Vabbian noble that had been nothing but a nasty thorn against his impending rise to power.

Wurmmarshal Osa Ekolo walked into the throne room, the sound of forgotten bone fragments crunching underneath her bare feet.

She had come to visit the Bone Palace to have a discussion with the king about the steady progression she had made with her wurm corps. And quite simply, she had also wanted to bring a new book for the intriguing, yet troublesome little healer that the marshal had found herself growing attached to.

But even with the aspect of good news being laid out on the table, there was a frown was on the marshal's sunken-looking face. Upon stepping onto the Palace grounds, she had walked upon an undead group of soldiers loitering about as they ambled around almost uselessly near the training dummies. Upon her closer inspection from afar, the marshal could quite clearly see they were attempting to mend their wounds with the tar stained rags, and were doing so most unsuccessfully.

The notion that there was unfinished work left lying around had created a bout of uncertainty for Ekolo, as she knew the healer's bleeding heart wouldn't have let such work gone unattended to for so long. There was also the premise of a consequence coming from Joko himself if the work was not completed, and Ekolo knew the healer was greatly terrified of the lich, which made even less reason as to why the work was left unfinished.

There were now dire questions that needed answering for such a bizarre and out-of-character thing. Mostly of which lead to the main question of where Julianna Fyre's current whereabouts were given there was a surplus of soldiers that hadn't had their injuries tended to, and there was no sign of her anywhere yet.

The marshal stopped walking and now stood before the throne near the bottom of the raised mound, one of the injured soldiers standing right behind her as she had beckoned for him to follow her into the inner confines of the palace. Her opaque colored moved towards the three chairs, seeing only one of them was currently occupied and it was of the last person she wanted to speak to.

"Our magnificent King Joko isn't here?" she asked, gravely voice on the precipice of sounding annoyed as she looked from the large empty throne in the middle and then back to the balding head of Grand Vizier Utumishi again.

Utumishi flipped a page of the book he was reading, not even addressing the high ranking marshal as he was too absorbed within his material to care. "No, he left a couple days ago to go deal with that pest of a Vabbian princess. He should be back any day now though."

Ekolo hummed to herself, continuing to look around the room for any sign of the blonde curls. "I didn't see any sign of Julianna anywhere either. Did she go with him?"

"No", he replied snappily this time. Utumishi didn't understand why the high ranking military official would have cared about the current whereabouts of the bothersome lout. He knew the pest should have had her nose stuck in the endless amount of work, which was healing the wounds of Joko's undead army.

The marshal turned towards the injured soldier she had brought in with her. "Please, show our oblivious adviser the lack of healing your arm has received."

Said adviser seemed to have finally been able to peel himself away from his book when he had been addressed so disrespectfully, the man's dark brow in a permanent scowl. Although the comment wasn't appreciated, he was no fool and wasn't going to try to pick a fight with Joko's most respected marshal. He watched as the undead soldier standing next to the tall female Awakened held up his detached arm and jokingly waved it to him.

"What is that?" Utumishi asked, sounding to be in disbelief of what he was seeing. "Why hasn't your wound been healed? Has the damnable healer been slacking off and not doing her job?"

"There's been no sign of her for the past couple of days", the injured undead answered slowly, sounding unsure. He seemed not to care about the trickle of tar seeping from his arm socket as the black sludge slowly dripped to the floor in a tiny, building puddle.

The short man merely shrugged, returning back to his book as his smile was hidden by the text. "Not my problem then."

"Perhaps not, but I imagine our ruler put you in charge until his return", Ekolo said, her tone now sounding on the precipice of venomous. "As such, the healer was your responsibility, and if she has somehow managed to leave the Palace, then the blame is still entirely on you."

The man in question rolled his light blue eyes, letting out a drawn out annoyed sigh as he finally retired his book on the table next to him. He knew the Wurmmarshal's words had truth behind them, and he wasn't quite prepared to deal with Joko's wrath upon his return.

"Why would she leave?" he asked, slight concern now in his voice as he stood from his chair and looked to the soldier that was still awkwardly standing there and holding onto his detached arm. "The better question if your ridiculous accusation is true, would be to ask about how she managed to leave entirely unnoticed by anyone?"

"A person who is held here against their own will and you act surprised she would try to escape?" The female marshal countered, completely understanding of why Julianna would have suddenly taken off without a word. She also knew the adviser wouldn't have bothered to give even the time or day to keep an eye on the woman, and it was no wonder she had left without notice.

Ekolo continued. "Give our little healer at least some credit Utumishi."

"But she and Joko had something going on between the two of them, and I don't think it was one sided", the short man said, pulling on his goatee frantically in a nervous tidbit. "I mean, listen, you wouldn't believe what I almost saw the two of them doing the other night, they-"

The appointed Wurmmarshal put a single finger up, halting the man's sentence from going any further. "I do not want to hear about whatever relations those two have, as it isn't my business to question our leader's decisions. The problem we are faced with now, is that Julianna Fyre is no longer here within the Bone Palace, and we have no idea how to even locate her if we were to set off in a search."

"Oh no.. do you think Joko will be greatly displeased with me?" Utumishi asked, completely side railing the need to go find the healer as he was currently most concerned about the state of his own morality. He knew Palawa Joko wasn't going to be even remotely pleased when he returned back to find out that his favorite new toy was suddenly missing. And he was faced with the realization that his temporary role of neatly full responsibility in his king's absence had been nothing but true, which meant his own neck was on the line.

"I would imagine so", Ekolo replied nonchalantly, crossing her arms across her chest and glaring sharply towards the tiny worm of a man. She knew even from own experience it was incredibly difficult to get along with someone like the Grand Vizier, and it was a wonder that he had been around for as long as he had.

The balding man began mumbling under his breath, pacing back and forth in front of the three appointed chairs as the actuality of the realization suddenly hit him. He seemed to be drawn in deep thought for a long while, before he snapping his fingers together.

"It's fine, there was a recent Archon that joined our militia, yes?" he adviser asked as he spoke of his plan aloud, looking more and more green as the question was asked more to himself than the other company in the room. "I can just dump this temporary title into them and let them take the brunt of Joko's wrath instead. Problem solved."

The Archons within Joko's Awakened army were high titled military officials that held great power and responsibly in their duties. They were carefully chosen and hand picked by Joko himself, as they were often granted important tasks that the undead ruler needed doing. Many had been stationed in strategic locations of Elona, as they commandeered a large span of area on their own. Their numbers only continued to grow more and more as the inescapable hold the undead Scourge had been attaining throughout the land was vastly growing as well.

"But that doesn't solve anyone's problems but your own", Ekolo snapped, eyes narrowing as her patience gone and done with Utumishi. She turned and walked away, putting her hands up and deciding there was nothing more the burden of a man was going to do in order to help their cause. As always, it was going to be a mess she would have take the ownership to clean up for.

"And just where are you going?" he called out upon seeing the marshal take a sudden leave.

"I'm going to see Beastmarshal Oluwa Eranko to discuss this situation with her instead", Ekolo answered back without turning around. "If there's anyone that can track and hunt someone down, it'll be her. You can be sure to let Joko know of my plan if he gets back before I return."

"How do you know she isn't just hiding out somewhere here in the Palace? Or perhaps she's just been holed up within her room this entire time?" Utumishi asked, desperation now reaching his problem as his eyes moved from the retreating back of the Wurmmarshal and then back again to the armless solider who had been left standing behind in the same spot.

"You're even more of a fool than I thought if you think such a naive thing Utumishi", Ekolo concluded, leaving the throne room to let the man stew in his own problem.


	21. Realization

**I don't own anything except for my OC.**

xxx

 _"How do you know she isn't just hiding out somewhere here in the Palace? Or perhaps she's just been holed up within her room this entire time?" Utumishi asked._

The traveling merchant and his healer escapee had stopped once it was close to nightfall and the Elonian sun was threatening to disappear entirely for the night. They had gained quite a bit of distance through the cruel land of the Desolation, making their way through the winding trails and avoiding Awakened patrols and camps whenever they could. The pair and their Doylak companion were now on the very outskirts of the Bonestrand, huddled away in a lone outlook carved into the nearest mountainside looking down into the Elon Riverlands. Elevation wise, they were still quite some ways up, and would need to descend the winding path to get into the small town below them.

From here, the imposing-looking structure of the Bone Wall could be seen as it was stretching in either direction for miles upon miles. Beyond that, lay towering rock formations that climbed into the sky at varying heights. Further even beyond those geological structures if one could see, were the near-endless rolling dunes of sand that could be seen on the farthest horizon.

Almasi had worked on procuring a small campfire, grateful that he had packed extra logs as the wood around this area was incredibly scarce. He knew the fall of the sun had also dropped the temperature drastically within the desert, and the group would need warmth to sleep through the night safely without fear of hypothermia setting in.

The Doylak had already hunkered down on its knees, the burden of its merchandise that it carried for the trip had been taken off in allowance for rest. The supplies on its back were pulled off and placed some ways away, sitting in a lone pile near the edge of the camp so as to not catch any stray embers. The horned animal chewed its cud loudly, the bovine trying its best to ignore the person of blonde curly hair right in front of it.

Julianna waved an inticing carrot right in front of the beast's mouth, looking on in disappointment as it hardly even licked its chops but just continued chewing. She almost debating trying to push the vegetable right into its lips instead.

"Why won't it take any food from me?" she asked, turning towards the merchant and raising a brow. She could see that he had already got the fire up and going, and was now stoking its core to entice more flames. He looked up from his work when he realized she was talking to him and not the Doylak anymore.

The merchant chuckled, the corners of his weathered looking eyes crinkling in amusement. He walked over, gently offering his hand out as the woman gave him the vegetable. He then held it out in offer for his pet, the animal taking almost less than a second to garble up the orange stick.

Julianna huffed in annoyance, filling her freckled cheeks with air and crossing her arms before turning away in a pout. "Why does he take it from you then? What Doylak doesn't want a carrot?"

Almasi hummed aloud, scratching his beard and thinking about the stubborn amount of likeness the woman shared with the beast as he patted its black and white snout."Well, I don't mean this in an offensive way. But given your longer stay at somewhere such as the Bone Palace, you probably reek of death."

The pouting healer raised a high brow, eyes slightly narrowing. "Look, while I'm not offended at the accusation, I did actually bathe on regular occasion while housed in that horrible place."

Almasi laughed with clear amusement on his face, moving back to his previous seat upon a slab of sandstone as he poked at the fire again. "I'm not saying you actually smell bad of course. But I think animals have a sense to that sort of thing. I mean, you were pretty close to the likes of that lich, and I imagine some of that disgusting, dark magic of his has stuck to you whether or not you were aware of it."

The comment had been like a icy pick to the woman's heart, as it had more truth to it than what was realized. And unfortunately, in more ways than one. Her hand went up to ghost over the scar on her inner shoulder blade, the imperfection of skin a blatant reminder that she did indeed have some of Joko's magic within her, whether she liked it or not. It was a constant reminder that when he had used Necromantic healing magic to mend the dire wound she had been unable to do herself, it had unfortunately resulted in some of his magic seeping in with her own.

Up until now, she had been completely unsure as to whether or not that would have dissolved over time. But having the Doylak's sense to such things had been like a reminding punch in the gut that it must still be lingering around.

She swallowed, her tongue feeling thick as she pulled her scarf back up around her head. Her feet felt like lead as she stood and moved back to join her traveling companion near the fire, seating herself down across from him on the ground.

Almasi had said nothing more, sensing the sudden change of mood from the woman as she was staring into the embers of the campfire with an uncomfortable look on her face. He watched a moment longer as she was anxiously fiddling around with the scarab decorated ring on her left middle finger. He decided not to pry any further, but he made a mental note to leave such comments to himself for the short remainder of their journey.

xxx

Palawa Joko had returned to his imposing yet magnificent Bone Palace a few days later as predicted, a battalion of fatigued and injured troops following behind him in his wake. He waved them away before stepping into the inner sanctum of the Throne Room, looking forward and tilting his head curiously at the surprising scene in front of him. He was nearly caught off guard at the sight of someone other than Grand Vizier Utumishi milling about in front of the three chairs, as instead there was a well-dressed man standing about in his place.

Joko stopped in front of the stranger some ways away near the bottom of the raised mound, leaning on his staff languidly as he looked the man up and down. His eyes took a generous amount of time to survey what was in front of them, as it had been an unwelcome sight upon his glorious return. There were few mortals he could bear to stand, even less of those that he tolerated standing so close to his appointed throne.

The man was not yet Awakened, though he was built like a Minotaur given his bulky size. He was dressed in a rich-looking combination of heavy armor and sandy colored robes, tassels of varying sizes hanging off his belt as a rusted looking mace hung next to his side. There was a glowing aura that surrounded him, as strands of blue energy danced around his arms and torso.

"Ah, one of my many loyal followers I presume. And just who exactly are you again?" the undead ruler asked, not skipping a beat and already sounding bored with the encounter.

The so-called stranger nearly choked on a snort, in disbelief at his monarch's lack of understanding of who he was. "I'm your most recently recruited Archon, you allowed me to join your cause back during your conquer of-"

Joko waved the man dismissively with an expressive clawed hand, sounding even more uninterested than before. "Oh, yes. Well then, what business does your miserable-looking hide have here within my own personal throne room?"

"Grand Vizier Utumishi gifted me the full responsibility of his duties until your awaited arrival back at the Bone Palace", he replied, sounding less and less confident. He bowed his armored head in acknowledgement. "I am truly grateful for this allowance of an important role, and I have been taking it most seriously, my king."

There was a sudden cough from somewhere in the room, as Utumishi had actually been standing about and listening in, but had instead been strategically located behind one of the pillars until his name was called forth in the conversation. He moved around from behind the structure, nodding towards the familiar lich some safe distance away. Secretly he had been hoping he could have avoided this conversation for a short while longer.

The undead ruler's passive, yet terrifyingly unpredictable face had hardly shifted, as he turned towards his adviser and lifted a single brow. He wasn't surprised to see that the little slimy worm of a man was not only standing some distance away, but was also avoiding near complete eye contact with him, which was the only visual cue the lich needed to see to immediately know something had gone terribly wrong during his short absence.

Though what exactly that was had remained a mystery to him.

Yet.

"My king, you must understand that...", Utumishi began, hesitantly returning eye contact once more. But he trailed off when his attention was caught sight of a particular nasty-looking wound marring the surface of his monarch's tar stained arm. There was a large open cut taking up nearly the length of his inner forearm, as an endless stream of tar seemed to be running rivulets down the limb into his closed hand around the staff before dripping down the weapon's shaft.

The adviser continued, eyebrows drawn together with slight worry. "King Joko, I don't mean to intrude, but your arm? It looks to be in quite the state of disarray", he asked. While he knew the lich was immortal, and such wounds would never impose a problem to his health, it still caused a bout of concern given the undead ruler would rarely let wounds go untreated like that.

Joko raised his arm, voice turning almost disturbingly jovial as he proudly showed off the dripping wound. "Nasty piece of work, isn't it? That miserable Talkhora was guarded by a would-be Sunspear hero that tried to defend that her pathetic and accursed existence. I gifted him the opportunity to get at least a good swipe at me with his meager showmanship of bravery."

"And?" Utumishi pressed, knowing he wasn't going to like the next answer. He pulled at the tight collar of his embroidered shirt.

"Ah, Utumishi, you should have seen the look on his face when I immobilized him right there on the spot after he so willingly chose to attack me", Joko said laughing cruelly as his attention was diverted back to his arm. "It was only made better when I wrenched the weapon right out of his hand and pierced him right through his heart, while he could only watch on helplessly."

The adviser swallowed, feeling bile at the back of his throat as he turned away. It never ceased to surprise him how truly cruel the great, Palawa Joko could be. He took a few shaky breathes, trying to regain his calm demeanor again as he suddenly felt light headed. The fact that such a fate could be in store for him at this sudden time was causing him second thoughts about needing to be in same room.

"I've been saving this pesky wound for our healer to deal with instead", Joko replied, a large smile on his face as he prodded around the flayed, leathery skin. Part of him had hoped it would entice even the smallest sting of pain, but he knew it was a far fetched reality for someone that was undead. But the other part of him was greatly looking forward to bothering the stubborn flame with his little problem instead.

But almost as if a tripwire had been set off in the room, there was now an aura of unease loitering about the room, the tension thick enough that it could have been cut through with a blade.

He turned towards Utumishi, his once, jovial voice turning to that of a more serious one. "Speaking of which, where is our healer? I do have some other unfinished business with her as well", he asked aloud, looking around as though he expected her familiar curls of hair to pop out at any moment.

But he sensed there was something wrong, and Joko was quite sure he wasn't going to like the news when he heard it.

"She... isn't here", Utumishi said, swallowing hard as he fiddled around with the cuffs of his sleeves. "There's been so sign of the lout for the past few days now."

The undead ruler's face turned to a deep scowl, the deep lines on his face standing out. "My underlings do not just disappear without any trace unless I am the one responsible for it. When was she last seen?" he asked, voice now laced with venom as the grip on his weapon had become similar to that of a vice.

"Just two days ago, around the same exact time that you had left in your short journey back to Vabbi again to deal with the princess", the adviser answered, now taking a few small careful steps backwards to put even further distance away from himself and the tempermental Scourge.

The Archon cleared his throat, reminding the two that he was still there. "Perhaps it would please you instead to know that I sent out numerous search parties to check every nook and cranny of the Palace. And this was immediately after Utumishi had given me the full responsibility and let me know of our meager blight of a problem. There was little evidence left to be found, but it points to the fact that she has likely high-tailed it out of here under our noses."

Joko cursed a colorful string of words under his breath, his jaw strained together in frustration at the knowledge that something he owned and was an asset to his ruling cause was now gone. He turned his attention towards the Archon now in his sudden bout of rage, outstretching a clawed hand towards the poor sod as his limb was enveloped in a dark cloud of deathly-looking mist. He quickly clenched his outstretched digits, feeling a pulse of magic course through his arm as it immediately drained the life force of the once-mortal body.

The Archon crumpled to the ground as though he weighed nothing , the man hardly having the time to react against his undead ruler's tantrum. His heavy form fell loudly against the scattered bones beneath his feet before it finally came to rest again.

"Your unremarkable contribution is a gift to your esteemed ruler, be proud of it", Joko said to the downed corpse, turning to look at the injured state of his arm as the skin mended itself back together after draining the life force of his unsuspecting prey. He clenched and flexed his hand repeatedly, watching the healed ligaments move under his tight decaying flesh.

The other Awakened milling about in the room had taken a few cautionary steps backwards upon seeing their newly recruited peer taking from the world of the living. Even those that had been around for quite some time felt frightened about their leader's unpredictable actions.

Utumishi sighed, rubbing a hand across his balding scalp in slight relief upon seeing the lich had already dished out his blatant outburst on someone else instead. While someone else had suffered the wrath of Joko and had paid the ultimate price for it, their death meant that Utumishi was safe at least for the moment.

Joko continued. "She must have been planning this, the deplorable wench. I imagine she probably waited until I was out of the picture before even daring to brave such an escape", he mused to himself out loud, his gravely voice still low and threatening as he watched the black mist on his hand slowly dissipate.

He thought back to the last few moments he had last seen her, thinking to the memory of when she had emerged out from the traveling merchant's room right before their progressive encounter together. She had mentioned to him after his teasing that her reason for being there in the room was because she had been inquiring about the acquirement of certain goods. But the lich now understood it had been a complete and blatant lie right to his face. His anger towards the woman was boiling dangerously now as the puzzle pieces all came together.

"She was scheming with the merchant right then and there behind my back", Joko thought aloud, clicking his tongue. "The clever little tart must have slipped out along with the only person that would have been allowed free leave from my Palace."

"And it's rather remarkable that not a single undead pair of eyes seemed to have noticed anything out of the ordinary when he had left. But then again, Julianna herself is quite the ordinary lout, she hardly stands out, even obnoxious as she is", Utumishi said with a scowl of his own, though it was quickly dropped when Joko shot him a sharp glare.

Utumishi coughed into his hand awkwardly before continuing. "Wurmmarshal Osa Ekolo also visited the Palace the previous day and had been the first to realize Julianna had been missing", he explained, his mouth feeling dry as he hoped the words would have calmed the angry lich down some. "She left shortly after to go recruit Beastmarshal Eranko Ekolo to help track her down."

"And? Have they made any further progress than the obvious lack of what was accomplished here?" Joko nearly spat, glowering towards the short man as he walked over to the downed corpse and lightly kicked at it to double check the effectiveness of his spell, though he hardly doubted his ability.

"They just came back with a report not long before your arrival. Eranko had mentioned they had been following an unknown trail north some ways through the canyons before it went cold", Utumishi explained.

The undead monarch hummed a short note, bringing a clawed hand to his chin and scratching it in thought as it bumped against the metal of his lip ring. "That must have been the merchant then. The only place hardly worth a damn for petty mortals within my Kingdom would have been the two miserable villages sitting on each respective sides of the Bone Wall."

"You think they would have gone that way then?"

"It's the only reasonable place for a merchant and his unfortunate quarry to have gone through", Joko mused aloud. "Send a message to both Eranko and Ekolo that I will deal with the rest of this matter myself. I won't imagine the two fools would have gotten very far yet, especially considering how fragile a pathetic mortal is under the conditions of unforgiving environments and travel. As such. they won't have moved very quickly in heir journey, wherever that may be."

"Shall I accompany you?" Utumishi asked, suddenly interested in seeing the potential consequences that was going to be used to deal with the bothersome lout. He would have gleefully rubbed his hands together if not for receiving a hated look from his ruler just moments prior.

"No, you won't", the lich replied quickly, looking back down to the corpse again and lifting a limp hand with his clawed foot. He tilted his head curiously, the ornaments ringing against each other with the movement. "Besides, you have a mess here to clean up anyway."

The slimy con of an adviser almost couldn't contain the grimace on his face when he looked towards the dead body. "It will be done, my king..." he said, sounding less than enthusiastic about his newly appointed yet all too familiar task.


	22. A Foreboding Stay

**I don't own anything except for my OC.**

xxx

 _"Send a message to both Eranko and Ekolo that I will deal with the rest of this matter myself..."_

Julianna Fyre jolted awake in a panic, sweat glistening to her forehead as she stared outward at the vast open landscape stretching across the endless wall comprised of bones. Seeing the open, star polluted sky instead of a dark and cold stone wall was a reminder of her current predicament. Her ears focused in on the crackling of flames next to her, as she tried dismissing the haunting images replaying over and over again in her mind.

"Bad dreams?" Almasi asked, raising a heavy brow towards the obviously startled-looking woman. He hadn't gone to sleep quite yet, deciding he still didn't feel safe still this close into the mouth of the Desolation. He figured he could wait until the following night to get a good night's rest, as it was yet another ease of mind for his nervous mood. The last thing he would need now was a scout of Awakened to stumble onto their camp without any warning.

The healer nearly jumped in place from her seated place upon hearing the other voice near her, nearly forgetting she had been with traveling company. She slowly turned towards the merchant, swallowing a lump in her throat and nodding.

He continued. "Ah, not the best thing to be burdened with", he replied, returning back to prod at the campfire. "I guess you can run from a place, but you can't run from the memories, right?"

Julianna said nothing more, watching the man closely now as he hadn't realized how cutting his words had actually been once again. She inwardly cursed him for how unintentionally good he had become at that. Her mouth was set in a firm line, debating actually saying anything and opening up to the almost complete stranger. She moved to lay back down on the makeshift mat so her back was facing the concerned pair of eyes still watching her.

"It was from a situation occurring before even that", she said quietly, her voice barely audible as she thought of the slain Sunspear heroes she had failed to save. She hugged her arms across her chest. "The kind of stuff that I probably could have prevented."

"I see, well don't be so hard on yourself", Almasi answered after a long pause. "You've moved on and then some. And besides, now you're far away from the likes of that awful Scourge."

Julianna hummed and stared ahead, feigning sleep though she was far from it now. She fiddled with the ring on her finger yet again, thinking back to her last encounter she had with Palawa Joko before he had left on a sudden, important departure of his own. Among many other problems, it had been in the back of her thoughts almost nonstop the second she had left the grounds of the Bone Palace. It was driving her near insane as she wasn't sure why her brain felt the need to keep retelling her what she had willingly shared with the lich.

Her fingers stopped fiddling in their nervous tidbit and instead moved up to trace her mouth, thinking back to the feeling of pushing her lips upon the terrifying character to have been responsible for the less-than pleasant change in her life. She personally had been expecting something more rough feeling, but it had a feeling closer to that of shockingly cold, tanned leather.

She shook her head, trying in a vain attempt to rid away the memories as she could feel her face instantly burn up. Even miles away, the Scourge still had that effect on her, and she hated it.

xxx

Early in the following morning, the merchant and the wayward healer had wasted little time as they wanted to rid themselves the landscape of The Desolation as quickly as possible in order to pass the Bone Wall. They had trekked down the rest of the mountainside with the equipment heavy Doylak in tow. At one point near the end of the craggy mountain trail, Almasi had been walking ahead too quickly during his nervous haste and had nearly tripped and accidentally rolled his ankle. The small hiccup was quickly resolved, as Julianna had been quick to mend the injury with healing magic so they could continue as though nothing had even happened.

The two had made good time once they got past the imposing-looking gates that barricaded them between the next area of land, as they now stood on the outskirts of a small farming town within the Arid Gladefields.

"I believe this where we should depart friend", Almasi said, looking out towards the village as he held a hand over his eyes to shield them from the harsh rays of sun.

It was late in the afternoon now, as the sun was still high in the sky and the small encampment was full of busy life as villagers moved around to finish their daily tasks and routines. As a mostly farming village, the work needed to be completed during the day when there was still light, and there was only so much time in the day. The area was busy with noise, the sound of livestock and wagons pushed to and from the fields created a constant buzz. Children of young ages darted in between busy legs, as they were still carefree to the labor of hard work.

Julianna frowned, readjusting the canvas bag on her shoulder as she watched a small child barrel past her without second thought. "But I thought you said you were going north?" she asked, raising a brow to her traveling counterpart. "Why the sudden change of direction?"

"I will eventually head that way, yes", Almasi replied. "But now that I have that lovely little dagger you bribed me with, I'm looking to take a detour out west some ways more. I know a guy out on the Skimmer ranch who would be real interested in an artifact like this one."

Julianna tried not to let the disappoint show. The departure of her short-lived companion meant she would be alone and on her own for the rest of the journey. And while she had primarily lived alone for a number of years back in Lion's Arch, this was a whole new location of land she was incredibly unfamiliar with. She knew north was still the answer for her escape, and Almasi had even directed her towards a small independent city that was just on the cusp of construction. He had mentioned there would probably be a cargo ship or two that would be back on their way to a harbor city like Lion's Arch, and she could potentially catch a last-minute trip.

"I would also suggest restocking your supplies while here as well", Almasi continued, shifting from foot to recently-healed foot as he nodded towards her bag. He looked around towards the various stalls lining the perimeter of the town. "The travel from here will be a few days longer than what we just did. And I'm pretty sure your stocks are on near-empty by now."

"You know me surprisingly well for a near-complete stranger", the healer replied, thinking back to his hard-hitting comments. She patted her pockets, thinking of how she was going to procure said supplies when lack of currency was a problem for her. She was beginning to regret how ill-prepared she had been when she set off on this journey. Even with careful planning, she had been too overzealous in trying to leave hastily and it was now biting her in the butt.

The man's eyes crinkled with amusement as he was already quite aware of the woman's problem. He poked her in the shoulder playfully. "You can pickpocket an expensive weapon without notice but you didn't think to get any coin for yourself? You truly are a strange one", he said with a laugh.

The woman in question pouted her lower lip out and crossed her arms across her chest. "Very funny..."

The experienced merchant then turned around and reached into a small satchel hanging off his Doylak, returning with an outstretched hand as he offered it out. "Here, because you've been such pleasant company and you did heal my ankle. Consider it payment."

Julianna opened her palms, watching as a couple silver and a dozen or so copper pieces fell into her awaiting hands. Her eyebrows raised up, surprised at the generous amount.

"That should get you a room for the night here and the rest of those funds should be more than enough for some supplies, that is, if you don't manage to get swindled by some shady merchants around here", he continued, winking playfully. "You know Julianna Fyre, you're a good person, and it's hard to believe someone such as yourself got involved with the likes of a monster like Palawa Joko."

"It wasn't a choice", she reminded him, eyes slightly narrowing as she pocketed the coin.

"Is it ever?" he asked back. "I suppose unless you devote your after-life to come back and serve the likes of Joko forever. Can't imagine that would catch on, though I know some people in Vabbi who have already pledged themselves."

He continued, clearing his throat from his strayed path of conversation. "Well then, I would suggest getting your supplies first, and checking out the prices at the stalls so you can compare a fair price. They aren't going to stay open all night though, so you better get a move on sooner than later", he suggested, idly scratching his bearded chin. "I'll be wishing safe travels for you little Outlander."

Julianna nodded, smiling at the rugged looking man as she shrugged off the borrowed jacket and handed it back to him. "And you as well. Thank you for all of your help, you really have no idea how appreciated it is."

"You can thank me once you are out of this Gods-forsaken desert then", he concluded with a mirrored smile on his face.

xxx

Not long after awkwardly wandering around the market stalls in a poor attempt to semi-successfully replenish supplies, Julianna found herself heading towards the inn near the center of town. The blazing Elonian sun was finally beginning to set, as the harsh weather was already cooling considerably. The hard-working farmhands were beginning to retire from their work, as men and woman returned back to the awaiting arms. The busy noise around the town was beginning to die down as well, as the frogs dwelling within the fields began their evening choir.

The healer opened the door and was immediately hit by the smell of booze and musty sweat the second the stepped foot into the inn's front entrance. Her hand flew to her nose, a look of distaste on her face. Never before did she think she actually would have missed the smell of the sulfurous Desolation instead of this intermingling concoction of aromas.

"Deserter, defector or exile?" an older woman from behind the counter asked, raising an inquisitive brow towards the scruffy looking woman standing near the door. Her appearance looked older, as her skin was sagging in most areas and the surface was freckled with varying sizes of dark aging spots. A tattered apron hung off the front of her, the piece of fabric stained with questionable amounts of just about every color under the sun. She hadn't paused in her task of washing a cup with a well-worn looking hand rag as she addressed her possible customer stepping forward.

Julianna released her nose and walked up as she felt her mouth go dry, unsure of how to answer the question posed to her. "I'm sorry, but I don't understand what you're asking?" the healer asked. Her hands nervously gripped edge of the counter, looking like that of a thief who had just been caught guilty for some wrong doing they were responsible for.

"I have no reason to be guilty, you need to stop thinking that", she reminded herself once again. The thought had been near-constantly swarming around in her head.

The older woman sighed, waving a dismissive hand as the dirty rag fluttered about. "I suppose it doesn't really matter, they're all the same anyway. People who have left the tyranny of that monster Joko, and are now considered enemies to his empire. Call them what you wish, no one is truly safe from him."

The curly blonde woman hummed aloud to herself in affirmation, biting the inside of her freckled cheek before beginning to fish around in her pocket for some coin before inquiring about the possibility of renting a room for the night.

"You've got that look about you, you know?" the innkeeper asked, placing the now clean cup back on the shelf behind her before reaching for another dirtied one on the counter opposite to her.

"A look?" Julianna asked, pausing her hand midway from their previous action.

"Uh-huh, I see that look all too often for folks passing through here after deserting the vice from that horrible zombie", the innkeeper suggested, continuing to work on another dirtied glass as her sunken eyes filled with boredom. "Folks finally get a taste of freedom, and realize too late how truly 'great' they had it before. In my opinion, it's all just a bunch of brainwashing and manipulative Doylak crap though."

Julianna frowned, mouth turning to the side as she absorbed the words. "I guess it would be...", she said after a long silence.

"I've also heard rumors from some of my traveling patrons, if you would believe it", the older woman continued, setting down the now cleaned glass. "Sounded something like, Stockheart? Or maybe it was Stockholm? Either way, it was a pretty solid answer for why folks like you might be feeling guilty about the choice you made."

Julianna's face turned red at the accusation. "I never said I was guilty about it-"

She was quickly interrupted by the wiser woman. "You don't need to say anything. It's practically written all over your face. The second you walked in that door you looked about as green as a Skale. And it wasn't from you fussing about the smell. "

The healer's brows shot up in surprise, though she filled her cheeks with air and turned away. She didn't want to believe such a thing could have possibly been true, and she was hesitant to believe such words from a random innkeeper. A large exhale of air escaped her mouth before she moved back to the reason for why she was even there and deflected the conversation entirely.

"Will this be enough for a room?" she asked after shoving her hand into her pocket and placing the coin on the counter.

"Plenty", the innkeeper replied, gathering up the small bundle copper. A bony finger pointed towards the nearby hallway. "Up the stairs and it'll be the last door on the left."

xxx

Julianna crawled atop the bed before throwing her arms open and letting herself roughly fall back onto the awaiting linens below her. She lay there staring at the cracked, stucco ceiling of the foundation, mulling over the past half day as she thought her how long term plan had finally been enacted into action and how she had successfully gotten this far without any major hiccups.

From what the innkeeper had told her after she paid for the room, she needed to continue her journey north into the awaiting landscape of the desert until she hit a small harbor. She figured it was likely the same town Almasi had mentioned to her once before. Part of her had wished now that she would have just continued walking on the friendly merchant, but she could tell he was getting antsy and wanted to be rid of her sooner than later.

She clicked her tongue in annoyance, turning her body so she was laying on her side and now staring at the cracked wall instead as it endured her glaring wrath. It wasn't the unknown premonition of what was to come with her escape that had been bothering the healer the most, but rather the inescapable guilt that had still been eating away at her even before she left the grounds of the Bone Palace. Her had fiddled around with the scarab decorated ring on her middle finger, her brows knitting together as she realized she would have no more need of the piece of jewelry anymore.

But she couldn't will herself to get rid of the thing, even though it served little value of her to anymore. The thought of trying to pawn it off to some merchant for extra silver or hold had hardly even crossed her mind, as that idea sounded unjustifiable.

She pulled the thing off, holding it out closer in front of her to examine before she replaced it back where it resided.

The woman fell asleep to the sounds of frogs singing among the rows of submerged vegetation in the farms.

Finally things seemed to have been going better for her.

But as she had come to learn, nothing ever went right for the healer for too long.


	23. Discovered

**I don't own anything except for my OC.**

xxx

 _Finally things seemed to have been going better for her._

 _But as she had come to learn, nothing ever went right for the healer for too long._

Screams.

Julianna shot up in the bed, alarmed to the sound of the poor Sunspear heroes being slain right near her feet.

A concerned looking frown formed on her face, as she quickly became aware of the horrible realization. The noise of horrified screams had not been from one of her many re-occurring nightmares from times past, but rather from just outside her window instead. She could feel her stomach lurch and drop down into her feet as she crawled across the small threshold of the bed to reach the end so she could cautiously peer out the narrow window. The smell of smoke and ash burned her nose and eyes as she got closer towards the open panel.

Whereas before when a canvas of red and orange painted the sky from the retreating Elonian sun, the bright colors now came from the sight of towering fires that were enveloping the dark skyline and had contrasted brightly against the night backdrop. Flames of varying sizes clawed upwards towards the air as they greedily ate at the foundations of tents and wagons. Cloudy smoke rose high above the buildings, blocking out blotches of the white sparkling dots in the sky.

The sight of an impressive Awakened force was currently wrecking pure havoc upon the small farming village. Villagers desperately ran for their lives in fear, as they escaped from their homes and fled the town towards the encompassing dunes of sand or murky marsh that surrounded most of the area.

The undead soldiers stomped about the small village without much care, pushing crates and preserved stores to the ground if they weren't instead thrown into the awaiting fires. Folks that hadn't yet fled from the scene were ripped out from their homes and tents and before they were roughly shoved to the ground on their knees for questioning by the appointed Awakened who stood nearby.

The healer's dark eyes darted around, in disbelief of the current and very real nightmare she was witnessing. She gasped suddenly, ducking down from the window when one of the Awakened soldiers near the building had turned around and pointed towards the inn. She remained frozen in fear atop the bed, her brain desperately trying to make sense of what was happening as she was now completely pulled from her prior fatigued state of mind.

The flashbacks of the past heroes of Koss and Lonai being cut down without any mercy seared across her thoughts yet again, and the healer gripped her head in a vain attempt to chase away the terrible memories rearing their ugly heads repeatedly.

The troubled woman's past reflections were broken once more when the sound of a door being ripped apart from its very hinges could be heard just downstairs. The sound rattled the entire foundation of the house, followed shortly after by the sound of a muffled exchange of short words. Only mere moments had passed as the feminine scream of the innkeeper was heard piercing the air of the night, lasting only a short few seconds before it was swiftly interrupted and the thud of a body hitting the ground could be heard.

Julianna suddenly felt ill and she tightened her eyes and grabbed her head, concentrating on forcing the bile back down her throat that had threatened to come back up.

"Small victories, remember...?" she quietly muttered to herself, prying her fingers from curls of hair and scrambling to get back onto two standing feet again. Though she knew those familiar words were far less comforting than ever before now. She shuffled around the room in a hurried state, looking like a Skritt that had come upon a stash of insurmountable treasure as she rounded up her small amount of valuables and threw them into the canvas bag hurriedly.

There was another choir of muffled voices heard from downstairs, as the sound of heavy feet exploring the first floor echoed through the building.

 _"Say you get out of this room, how are you going to sneak past all those Awakened soldiers downstairs?"_ she asked to herself, panic beginning to overwhelm any of her rational thinking as she really didn't have a plan once she had gotten her meager things together.

She was left to stand there awkwardly in the middle of the room with the meagerly filled canvas bag in her arms, as the terrified screams of villagers and cackles of hungry flames continued from the world just outside. She hardly registered the imminent sound of feet coming up the stairs to the second floor as she was too absorbed in her current daze of not actually having a plan once she got out of the building.

The wooden door to the small room was suddenly thrown open, causing the occupant inside to visibly flinch from surprise and drop the bundle in their arms to the floor.

"Well now, what a surprise this is, _little one_ ", Palawa Joko greeted, the undead's blue eyes narrowing darkly down at his found escapee. His voice held nothing but venom and displeasure as he had been incredibly irate upon hearing his healer had attempted an escape from the Bone Palace. No one was allowed to willingly leave his ruling without first escaping the wrath of The Eternal Monarch of All.

Julianna's blood turned ice cold upon seeing the familiar figure of the Scourge standing in the doorway. Her eyes widened considerably, as she could practically feel the dangerous aura of his presence coming off from the being in the doorway. His physicality right here had only confirmed her growing suspicion that the reason for the Awakened's arrival to the village hadn't been because of some random raid upon the poor townsfolk, but rather because their undead ruler was looking to spill her blood.

The healer swallowed, rooted to the spot still as Joko remained at the door and continued watching her with a hated glare. She had been near undead ruler plenty of times before when he was royally pissed, but never before when it was specifically aimed towards her and was holding such malicious intent.

And it was that dawning realization which had Julianna Fyre truly fearing the terrible lich like she never had before. The guilt that had been building up had quickly transformed into immediate regret in that halted moment.

The short woman stepped backwards, letting out a small yelp as she tripped over the forgotten canvas bag that had just previously been dropped. She fell backwards onto the hard floor of the room, as the air was instantly knocked out of her lungs and she gasped for air like a fish out of water.

Julianna immediately felt a wave of panic in the moment of struggling to breath, and just as she was about to try and get back up and get a second wind, she felt a heavy clawed foot roughly press down into her rib cage. She hadn't even heard Joko's heavy footfall stalk across the room to close the threshold between them. Her chest now felt even more tightly compressed than it had just been before, and she helplessly clawed at the air for the alleviation of breath to flow back into her injured lungs.

Joko watched from above in great fascination as the fragile mortal woman underneath his foot stubbornly tried to fight against him in a petty attempt to rid himself from her. It had far been too long since he had toyed around with a delicate underling such as this, especially one that was providing such great entertainment.

His gravely voice broke the silence between the two of them again. "I thought the time you spent at my Troopmarshal's camp was supposed to have taught you better at adapting to work under pressure?" he leered, the cruel irony behind his words as he lightly pressed his foot further down upon her chest.

The healer took a sharp intake of a shaky breath, and tightly closed her eyes as she didn't want to face what was above her. She had been half tempted from his blatant cruel taunting to surge a smite spell into her arms, but she knew it would have done her no good at all in this situation. She was now obviously at the lich's complete mercy, which given how angry he obviously was towards her, was less than favorable.

All of the cards were in his hands now, as per usual.

"I wonder, as the necromancer in me is quite curious. How long your life would resume until one of your broken ribs has permeated a lung?" he asked while tilting his head curiously, the hanging jewelry off the side of his hat making noise. "I imagine it would take a mortal a while to die. As you lay there helplessly trying to catch a breath but finding it impossible to do so."

The woman said nothing more, though her dark eyes opened again. She visibly froze up as a different kind of terror seized her. Unfortunately for her, she knew exactly what would happen if a bone perfected one her delicate organs, and she cursed her medical expertise to the Mists and back for being adversed with the knowledge at a time like this.

The lich above her just continued with his monologue as though his physical administration to his trapped prey was hardly an encumbrance to him.

"And to think we had shared an intimate moment together too", Joko continued without pause, his voice on the precipice of sounding dangerous as he placed a hand over his blackened heart and closed his eyes. "Especially when you were the one to have initiated it."

Julianna didn't say anything, stationary and still struggling to catch a needed breath underneath her crushed chest. She was in disbelief that he was choosing now of all times to bring that particular situation from a few nights ago back up again.

"You know, I thought we had something truly special among my hundreds of other loyal followers. And then come to find out that the pitter-patter of your little feet had dared to leave the confines of my ruling", he said with heavy sarcasm now, using two fingers to look as though they were running across the palm of his other tar stained hand.

"Well, I'm sorry to have injured your fragile ego but-" she tried but was interrupted when the foot atop her chest was pressed down even further. Her teeth clenched together, and she could have sworn she heard a rib or two threaten to actually break under the increased force. Once again her mouth had gotten into more trouble because didn't think before she spoke.

"Insignificant details", he waved, hardly seeming to care about the increased weight he added. He watched as her hands now flew to his ankle in a useless attempt to wrench his limb away.

He blinked, humming to himself as he rewarded the feeble action by pushing his foot down even further again. This time he was gifted the noise of a louder, more disturbed-sounding cry of pain as the woman immediately ceased in her vain attempt to free his foot from her chest. The notion of realization that the little bothersome flame was in actual physical pain because of him, was something he hadn't experienced much before. The last time he had seen her in serious pain was when she had been struck by a stray dagger flying though the air back in Vabbi, though she had been in a slight state of shock and hadn't reacted in the same current manner because of it.

And unfortunately it hadn't been by his own doing that time around.

Joko released some of the pressure of his foot after watching the woman remain in pain for a few long enjoyable moments.

"As fun as this little excursion has been, I am a busy lich and there are more important matters for my ruling that need to be done", he said, tilting his head down towards the pest underneath him. His clawed hand moved down to hook under the woman's arm as he hauled her back up to her feet again, taking no effort to be gentle.

"You're a monster", Julianna spat, repeating what she had heard the past few days from random folk as she struggled to regain her standing composure again.

Her dark eyes scanned the withered features of his face, looking for any semblance of mercy. That familiar pit of bubbling fear had returned with a fury of vengeance now, as it was rooted deeply in. He hadn't moved away since pulling her back up, and was still standing just within her bubble of personal space. She was reminded of just how incredibly unpredictable he could be, as she had no inkling of an idea what was going on his head and whether or not he was going to enact upon his threats.

He leaned in just an inch away from her own mouth. "I aim to please", he replied back, keeping his face just a breath away from her own.

Julianna inhaled a sharp intake of air, her mouth becoming a thin line as she glared at the lich for intruding even closer into her personal space just after nearly crushing her rib cage. The familiar stench of decaying flesh was almost too much to handle in the midst of a whirlwind of emotions. She despised him for managing to take this horrible moment, and yet again, turn it in to some little game for him to play. But she decided two could play at that game, as her stubborn behavior allowed her not to bend so easily and move away.

Joko was an opportunist though, as he waited until he was sure her guard was completely down before playing his own hand. He leaned down considerably and moved his mouth to capture her own for but a few, short moments as he once again savored the hardly forgotten contrast of warmth against his cold self. He was pleased to find she had been caught by surprise by his advance, but it was quickly replaced with her trying to pull away, much to his dismay.

The undead ruler separated himself and stood back up to his full height after having to lean down some ways. "I'm simply repaying the favor you bestowed upon me those few nights ago", he stated with a wide grin, keeping himself only a couple feet away so he was still far too close for her own liking.

He reached forward and flicked the end of her nose with a pointed digit, examining the red hue staining her freckled face before continuing. "At least until the little tart decides to make the first move again."

The short woman was an intermingling mixture of terrified and confused as she struggled to comprehend what had actually just happened. In her moment of absolute vulnerability, the lich had decidedly taken advantage of it to use as his own personal leverage as though he were making a game of simple payback.

He turned back towards Crabby, the Awakened warrior, who had been waiting just outside the door in the hallway and motioned to him with an arm.

"Do be a peach and take care of this one for the travel back, would you?" Joko beckoned, looking back to watch his healer in front of him try and unsuccessfully hide the pink hue of color splattered across her entire face.

"Of course, my king", the scratchy soldier's voice from the hallway replied.

Julianna had immediately recognized the familiar Awakened voice of Crabby, her brows knitting together as she watched him approach. She frowned, the red coloration disappearing upon seeing he was pulling forward the large weapon he had holstered across his back. Immediately she could tell his stance was less than friendly for whatever his ambitions were, and she coursed magic into her arms this time, preparing a smite spell to try and knock both him and Joko back.

But she should have known the Awakened were not mere lumbering zombies, and were far faster than they appeared.

The last thing she saw before her vision went black was the end handle of a large war hammer before it struck her head.


	24. Scarabs

**I don't own anything except for my OC.**

xxx

 _The last thing she saw before her vision went black was the end handle of a large war hammer before it struck her head._

Sometime unknown time later, Julianna Fyre found herself groggily returning to the land of the living.

The first thing the woman awoke to, was the near blinding pain erupting from the back of her skull. Her hands moved to try and feel for what had happened, as they were met with the feeling of caked blood staining the back of head in thick clumps.

"Gall of an imp..." she cursed under her breath when she could feel the tenderness of her skin from the touch. She prodded around the area some more, hissing each time the injury retaliated in protest with another wave of pain wracked her skull.

She investigated around and found the most sensitive area, as she could feel where the blood had coagulated the most given it was close to the source. Surprisingly the gash hadn't been as large as she had expected, but that had only been because injuries on the head usually bled more than any other area on the body. The back of her mind was repeatedly telling her how lucky she was considering hadn't yet bled out from an untreated wound such as this.

It was decided she was definitely going to need to have a few choice words with Crabby's use of immobilization whenever she got the chance again.

Julianna concentrated more closely on her injury now, her hand emitting a faint blue glow as she cast a healing spell around the area. She could feel the skin begin to mend back together as though there were invisible threads pulling it taut, the magic pulsing through her arm helping speed up the effects.

While she worked on her healing, she chewed her lower lip and looked around. It was unsurprising to find herself back within the room in Bitumen Reserve, which of course sat right underneath the Bone Palace within the all-too familiar land of the Desolation. Her eyes darted around the dark space with curiosity, seeing that everything was to have been in the same exact place as she had left it. It was still the same somber and depressing cold room as before, nothing had changed.

A sigh escaped her lips as she realized something incredibly discouraging in the midst of the quiet moment to herself. After her failed attempt at escaping the grounds of this desolate landscape, it was obvious that escape might very likely not have been something even remotely attainable ever again. Especially when the last attempt had left her dealing with the Scourge's inescapable and unpredictable wrath as a consequence.

"At least you were spared your life, or the servitude of being Awakened for his dreadful army", she thought to herself, her other unoccupied hand absentmindedly scratching her forearm.

Julianna's brows knit together with the pent-up frustration, as she continued pulsing magic into the wounded area. She figured she had been so careful and precise with her planning during the past month's time, more so especially when considering the desired long con of it all. And even through the numerous hardships she had faced, it was only semi-successfully achieved as the Ascalonian healer had landed right back at square one of her current ordeal.

Her deep thoughts were broken as suddenly the door to her room swung open with a loud noise, the woman jumping in fright from her seated position atop her bed as it also interrupted the magic she had been casting. The fright quickly dissolved into utter fear though when she saw who it was that had stepped through.

The last being on Tyria she wanted to see at that moment, or possibly ever again if it could be helped.

"My, oh my", Joko said, closing the rickety door behind him as he walked into the small space. "Part of me had hoped you bled out, if only so that I finally could turn you into one of my many Awakened servants."

Julianna felt the entirety of her supposedly claimed safe space disappear in that short moment as the undead ruler stood within her bedroom for the first time. Her mouth felt dry, and she tried swallowing but found such a simple thing to have become incredibly difficult as clouded memory began reminding her of what had happened the last time she had been in the same room with him. Her body impulsively inched itself backwards on the bed, moving itself closer to the adjacent wall even though it hardly provided her any more space away from the terrifying lich.

Joko ignored his healer for the time being, instead biding his time by looking around the pathetic excuse of a room. He was trying to recall who it had belonged to once upon a time, but could only remember that it had been someone that bothered him so greatly to the point where it had resulted their immediate death. A trend which had occurred time and time again with one of his subjects bothered him too much. His gaze wandered towards the singular torch on the wall, watching the hungry flames cackle as its light danced across the dark wall and cast long shadows across the room.

Julianna wanted to speak, to tell the monster responsible for everything terrible that had happened to her to just go away. But she couldn't find her voice, and when she tried to use it, nothing but a small whimper came out.

The noise unfortunately caught Joko's attention again however, as though it were a reminder in his current daydreaming that there was a living person in the room with him still.

"Ah, yes. It seems you already tended to that nasty wound on your head then", Joko mused, stepping closer across the cold floor to the bed as his clawed feet tapped against the surface. He didn't bother holding back a grin as he watched with gratifying satisfaction as its owner tried to push herself further against the wall in an attempt to escape from him.

The Scourge reveled within the woman's obvious fear as though he were savoring a rich and fine Vabbian wine. Her fear of him had returned back to the state of when they had first met, as the walls he had carefully torn down now were bolstered back up against him again. He found it incredibly gratifying, yet also semi-frustrating since he was going to have to start all over again. Especially considering the small little detail about where the two had left off not too long prior to her disappointing choice.

"I do have something to check on before I return to a diplomatic issue back in my throne room upstairs", Joko's scratchy voice said, waving a dramatic hand around as he spoke. Although he was fond of excuses, he did indeed actually have a reasoning for coming to bother the woman, and it wasn't just for his own sick amusement for once.

He held out a outstretched hand after waving it around, beckoning it towards the now quivering woman before him. "Give me your left arm."

"W-why?" Julianna asked, her voice shaky as it was barely above an audible whisper.

"I don't believe I asked you, I told you", Joko shot back almost immediately, patience already beginning to dwindle. "Now do be compliant this time around my stubborn little tart, and don't make me have to ask twice."

Julianna knew she had no other choice in the matter, and she hesitantly held her arm out towards the undead ruler. It felt as though she were offering her limb to the hungry mouth of a Sand Shark, and she was fighting with herself to quickly wrench her arm backwards again.

As she extended the limb, a sliver of a faded red line on her arm caught her attention. An eyebrow rose in confusion when she saw the second possible injury now out on display. A horizontal line, neat and cut across the middle of her forearm around the area that had been itching earlier. It was sealed up, though the edges were dark and blotchy with the familiarity of what must have been necromantic healing magic. She couldn't believe she hadn't noticed it until now, but she figured it was because the injury on her head was a more pressing matter.

Joko reached out, gently grabbing hold of the warm tiny wrist that fell into his much colder, clawed hand. He pulled the arm closer towards him, causing its owner to shift forward in the bed in surprise.

"An extreme measure when my minions choose not to follow my benevolence with undying loyalty", the undead ruler mused out loud, as though he was speaking to an audience. He twisted the forearm around so it faced the ceiling, using his thumb to graze across the red line marring the pale surface.

The healer kept her eyes intently trained on the injury in question, trying to hypothesize what could have happened when she had been knocked out for some unknown amount of time. She could smell Joko's fragrance of death and his obnoxious overwhelming cologne at this proximity again, and it was causing her headache to pound further in intensity.

"And just what is this supposed to be? " she finally asked, looking up towards the tall lich who was far too close for her own liking. His face had remained impassive the entire time, and she was struggling to piece together what the thing on her arm was given the lack of any context clues from his lack of expression.

"Tell me then, my astute medic", he asked, turning his head to catch the concerned gaze of his current patient. He could see her face was a glorious mix of confusion, pain and resentment, all of which were caused by him. It was a near delicious mix of emotions, and a potent concoction for him to savor.

He continued. "Do you know anything of scarabs?", his voice changing to deceivingly bubbly and light as the grip he kept on his healer's arm tightened. The room had grown a near-suffocating cloud of discomfort, but he merely reveled in it while the other occupant suffered.

Julianna winced from the sudden increase of pressure. "Well, I'm a healer, not an entomologist. So nothing at all, other than taking notice that you have an interest in them yourself."

"Ah, so there is a brain in there after all. Hard to believe after the stunt you pulled", Joko continued with his teasing, not surprised at this point anymore to have the healer predictably stick her tongue out towards him. His thumb traced back over the incision, smiling wickedly when he saw the reaction of goose flesh appearing on the woman's ivory, freckled skin.

Joko went on without much pause, finally releasing his grip. "I took the liberty in ensuring you would never get the chance of leaving of your servitude to me again. And as such, I gave you a gift. I do hope you'll come to like it, since it'll be with you forever."

The short woman said nothing back, continuing to watch his withered-looking face before she dared to break eye contact and look back down at her freed forearm. The room was near deathly quiet, the only sound coming from the occasional jingle of ornaments from the lich's attire whenever he shifted around.

Her other unoccupied hand hesitantly went to touch the area, as she tried to use her own medical prowess to further examine the wound and piece together what it could have possibly been after what she had just been told. As her hand graced the healed laceration of skin and she began prodding around it, her hand jerked it back lightning fast when she felt something move underneath.

A deep laugh resonated from the undead's chest, as he watched with glee to see the dawn of realization cross Julianna's features.

"What... what is this?" she mustered, turning back to glare at her captor standing at the side of her bed. "Are you telling me there's a bug of some kind living under my skin now?"

"A scarab to be more precise, my dear", he nearly sang, eyes darkening. "A helpful scout, that will do its job of keeping me in the loop of your current whereabouts."

"I-I don't believe you...", the woman blundered, not sure what else to say in that moment. She was afraid to even touch her own arm anymore, in fear she could feel the scarab crawling underneath again. "You think I won't try and remove this on my own?"

"Your gift is imbued with my own magic", he explained, crossing his arms across his chest. "I'll know immediately when you decide to make another, incredibly poor choice."

Julianna was speechless as she watched the stony expression from the being across from her. She set her mouth in a line, tearing her glare away from the other occupant in the room as she dared herself to look back down at her forearm again. Part of her was expecting to see the insect move around underneath, but from what was visible, there didn't appear to be a noticeable area of any raised bumps which would have indicated where it's location was.

"You should consider yourself lucky", Joko continued with mirth as he uncrossed his arms and headed back towards the open door. "So few of my loyal subjects have been bequeathed with such a gift. Call it my parting gift, if you will. In that you truly belong to me now."

The healer remained atop the bed, watching the retreating back of the lich as he slammed the door shut upon leaving, his cruel laughter echoing all the way down the hallway.

She felt quite confident things couldn't have gotten any worse at this point anymore.


	25. Nobles

**I don't own anything except for my OC.**

xxx

She felt quite confident things couldn't have gotten any worse at this point anymore.

The recently re-acquired healer remained behind in her dreary room for a short while after listening to the undead monarch's laughter continue all the way down the hallway before it had completely disappeared. She was unsure of the current time of the day given she had been knocked out cold for some an unknown amount of time, and as such, she desired nothing more than a few good hours of sleep in her musty smelling bed.

Unfortunately for her, it seemed the Gods weren't quite done with their unmerciful and never-ending game they continued to play with her.

"I don't suppose you are still alive in there?" Grand Vizier Utumishi suddenly called in a displeased manner from behind the door, rapping loudly on it. He had been disappointed to hear that the pest had been brought back alive. "You should have already been doing your job by this time in the morning. But besides that, Joko sent me after your pathetic hide because there's another task in the throne room that needs immediate doing right now."

Julianna paused in the middle of her work, as she had been sitting on the floor in front of the rotted-looking chest at the end of her bed. She was currently in the middle of wrapping her forearm up with a roll of spare bandages she had rummaged around for. Her neck craned around towards the door, the sound of Utumishi's voice now one more reminder to the list of things that she was going to have to continue dealing with as she greatly disliked the man.

"Yeah, yeah, I heard you. Don't get your robes in a twist", she said, just barely loud enough for him to hear. She was confident that not a single, possible ounce of her had missed the slimy adviser during her short absence.

"Considering how far you've already provoked King Joko the past few days, you shouldn't be pushing your limits, lout", he snapped back, retreating from the door and back down the hallway. He wasn't in the mood to deal with the healer's immature responses right now. He could hardly stand to deal with him even when his disposition was more pleasant.

The woman merely shook her head, rolling her eyes at the comment as she finished her previous task. She tied off the last strand, holding her forearm out in front of her to see it was now covered from wrist to elbow with some ancient-looking bandage she had scavenged around for inside the chest.

"It'll keep it out of sight, at least somewhat...", she mumbled, her other hand reaching up to tiredly rub at her eye. She felt exhausted, both physically and mentally. But apparently given what she had just been told, she was already needed back upstairs. She was dreading to go back the throne room so soon, especially since she knew Joko would likely be there too.

The woman's dark encircled eyes moved back down the bandage after staring ahead blankly at the wall in a daze. A single finger moved over to where she knew the cloudy marred incision lay underneath. She near immediately clenched the outstretched digit back into her palm, going back on her idea of trying to entice movement from the hidden scarab again.

"Back to small victories for myself I suppose...", she mumbled as slowly stood back up, heading towards the door to her room. The self-reminder was feeling less than confident at this point however.

The fatigued looking healer felt as though she were dragging her feet during the entirety of her journey upstairs towards the throne room. She had paused once she was outside, the familiar stench of sulfur assaulting her sense of smell. Using a hand to shield her eyes from the relentless Elonian sun, she looked up to see a pair of two Awakened archers chatting to each other atop one of the many high raised walkways as they spotted her quickly with sudden interest.

"Oh? She isn't dead yet?" one of them remarked, loud enough for the person below to hear.

"Good, it means we can get back to our betting!" the other continued, sounding incredibly pleased to see the source of his bonus earnings had returned.

Julianna huffed loudly in annoyance, ignoring the presence of the two chatty undead above as she continued on her way.

xxx

After making sure she had been extra careful not to trip over herself as per usual when she was parading around the bone littered landscape of the outer grounds, she now found herself hesitating just outside the inner sanctum of the throne room. She could hear a myriad of voices from inside the area, as some were immediately recognizable while others were not. There was one in particular however that was causing a great amount of uncertainty in what she was supposed to be doing.

A voice some short distance away to the left of her had caught her off guard while she had been peering just outside the wall.

"Tell me, how does such a tiny little person hold an unlimited ability to be as stubborn as you are?" Crabby asked, pausing in his assault on a training dummy and watching the curly head of blonde hair stand just outside the archway.

He had noticed her absence this morning, as many of his fellow Awakened peers were also mulling about in their daily tasks and asking about the whereabouts of the healer as they had wounds that needed to be mended. They had gotten used to her being around, and the progress they had made in their training had considerably slowed during her vacancy as they were left to utilize the tar-stained rags and other meager supplies to bandage themselves up accordingly.

Julianna turned around upon recognizing the voice, her eyes widening before quickly changing to that of a sharp, hard glare. She immediately remembered back to the fact that Crabby had been the one responsible for knocking her out before she had been brought back to the confines of the Desolation once again.

The woman stomped towards him, fragments of bones crunching underneath her armored boots as she raised a single finger out towards the hunk of undead flesh standing near the training dummy. She wasn't even near him yet and she was already going off in a verbal rant about his crude and unorthodox methods of transportation.

Crabby knew exactly what she was doing the second she started in though, and he easily decided wanted no part in it. He wasn't even listening to what she was saying in her angry tirade towards him, as he waited until the second she reached him and was just within arm distance. He grabbed hold of her upper arms before she could retaliate, and simply spun her back around as he lightly pushed her back towards the way she came.

"You're obviously stalling", the undead soldier threatened, his voice sounding annoyed as it did whenever he was dealing with the woman. It had been obvious from her standing around awkwardly in front of the throne room that she was dawdling in her task, and he had unwillingly provided an escape as more time to the inevitable.

"And? Do you blame me?" she shot back with clear meaning behind her words. She had whipped back around to face the Awakened soldier still addressing her, but she stubbornly remained rooted to the spot a few feet away. She wasn't about to easily dismiss what the Awakened soldier had done.

"Dealing with our ruler's less than pleasant attitude since your sudden departure was proven to have been less than fun for any of those here in the Palace", he shot back, beady yellow eyes narrowing. He crossed his arms across his broad armored chest and stood his ground.

He continued before she was even allowed to speak up. "Get going, or else I'll carry you in there myself."

Julianna hesitated a few seconds longer, narrowing her eyes immensely towards the undead before sticking her tongue out towards him. She turned on her heels and slowly made her way towards the place that, unfortunately for her, was still waiting around for her. But after the shared conversation with Crabby, a small part of her had become slightly curious about what Joko's temperamental behavior had been like when he must have found out she had left.

However that was quite effortlessly consumed by the growing fear of knowing she had to confront the terrible lich so soon again.

xxx

There was a choir of talking amongst the small group standing before the three appointed chairs near the back of the Bone Palace's throne room.

Palawa Joko stood near the middle of the group, with Utumishi standing at his right side as always. The bald headed adviser had his hands clasped behind his back, as he was currently trying his best to look interested in the conversation in front of him. The rest of the group comprised of intricately dressed nobles of varying heights and sizes, though the undead ruler stood far above any of them. The one noble standing closest to the immortal monarch, was adorned in the most expensive looking attire, and had a feather-like headdress that sat resting upon his round head.

The babble of voices dropped lowly when the nobles had realized the glorious and magnificent undead ruler was no longer paying them any mind to their attempt at interesting prattle. Instead he was focused on something across the the room, as his gaze was sharply drawn towards it. Nearly all of the heads turned at once to see the stranger approaching the group. A few dared to gossip to one another in a hushed manner as they speculated who the person could have been as they hadn't a clue who she was.

"Oh dear, my apologies King Joko", the noble standing closest to the lich said as he saw the unfamiliar and frazzled looking woman hesitantly approach. "But I hadn't realized there were peddlers running a muck in your... glorious Bone Palace. As a Prince, I would never have allowed such an extremity to be allowed here."

Julianna stopped just before the group, her brows shooting up in bewilderment from hearing the comment as a wave of red flush spreading across her freckled face from a combination of both rage and embarrassment. She knew the royal nobles had been something of the stuck up nature given they were born into their wealth, but she wasn't expecting to have one of them say something so demeaning right in front of her.

The healer was just about to retaliate and say something less than pleasant given her inability to think before speaking, but Joko intervened before she even got the chance. He quickly darted around the group to stand right behind her and clasped a hand over her mouth before anything offensive was allowed to spill out.

"Ah, what a shame. I forgot to introduce this bothersome one", Joko finally spoke up, keeping his hand plastered against the lower half of her face even though she was desperately trying to wrench his tar-stained limb away. "My dear esteemed guests, this is Julianna Fyre, the healer to my Awakened army."

"A healer?" the Prince chimed, tilting his head as he closer observed the newly introduced asset with a scrutinizing look. He had never heard of such a thing before. "I thought the Awakened had their wounds mended to by tar and bandages as such? At least that is what they are limited to doing back in Istan. And besides, is that not the point of having an army reanimated from the dead, so that they could be immortal and not have to worry about such a thing?"

"It's a mere temporary solution while my hold on this land grows", the Scourge replied, keeping his limb against her face and preventing her from saying anything further. "Healing magic and spells are still far more effective when the host is mortal, even when it is used upon non-living flesh."

"Fascinating then, I'm surprised you don't have more of these healers under your jurisdiction?" the Prince continued with his questioning as he moved forward with his blatant scrutiny. He looked back to the woman within the tall undead's grasp, looking her appearance up and down without shame.

"Once I obtain an army that is near unstoppable, there will be little need for such a thing anymore", he began, releasing his hand and replacing it atop the woman's head as he patted the bouncy curls. "Though I may have other reasons to keep one around."

Julianna felt her ears burn with even more embarrassment now, even if the others in the room may have remained naive to the hidden meaning behind the lich's words. The nobles seemed to blindly agree with what had been said as they all nodded in praise and affirmation. They walked a short bit of distance away as they trailed after Utumishi who had been trying to escape their incessant questioning. The adviser hadn't gotten far in his escape before he was swarmed with the dire issues and conversation that were supposedly occurring back in Istan.

The healer still had her back turned towards the dreadful being right behind her, which she was grateful for considering she didn't want the current state of her face on display for him to examine more closely. She unconsciously moved a hand to try scratching at the arm she had just bandaged in a nervous tidbit. While she felt she had been victorious in finding the gauze to hide the horror laying underneath her skin, she was now regretting it considering how itchy it was becoming.

"Not a fan of my gift?" Joko suddenly asked in a quiet tone, looking towards the area of her forearm where he could see had been wrapped up. His much taller height had helped him to easily peer over her shoulder as he leaned forward to see what she was scratching at. It was quite obvious from what she had done which made it clear wanted the scarab infused arm hidden, since she had already made the desperate attempt to keep it out of sight.

She hesitantly turned back around to face him, as she was about to say something but was interrupted when he had reached forward to grab hold of the bandaged arm before she got the chance.

"No, I can't say that I am", she answered back honestly, though her voice was threatening to sound nervous in his presence. She was internally fighting with herself to wrench her arm away. Even though his grip had been surprisingly gentle, the touch felt as though it were burning. "I find it to be quite disturbing actually."

Joko chuckled, raising a high brow above its twin as his laugh reverberated deeply within his chest. He released the arm he had been holding as its owner brought it back protectively against her chest. "Coming from the likes of me? And you would expect it to not be, my little tart?"

Julianna stared at the wall from across the room as her mouth was a thin line as she listened to the nickname he was growing far too attached to. She knew full well from his taunt that her face must have continued to hold the bright pastry like color. She decided to change the conversation. "Utumishi said there was something that needed to be done up here?"

The Scourge had paused, mulling over the answer in his head and debating if he was going to go the suggestive route. He clicked his tongue, deciding against it. "One of these dull-headed nobles has been complaining all morning about some supposed sprained ankle or some other such nonsense. To be quite frank, I grow incredibly weary of his whining, but I'd rather not cause any unnecessary bloodshed or add any more macabre decoration to my Palace anytime soon."

The healer looked over back towards the group, trying to pin point which of those in the group appeared to be injured. She bit the inside of her cheek upon not seeing him. "I don't suppose I get a choice?" she asked, turning her attention back up towards the much taller undead ruler still standing in front of her.

"Not unless you would rather see me turn the man into a useless stain of blood and guts on the floor", Joko replied back snappily, shaking his head. He looked quite indifferent to the possibility of causing a bit of chaos, but he knew it wasn't in his best interest as he needed the nobles to be on his side rather than against it. Winning over the disposition of favorable nobles would be a resourceful benefit to him in the long run, and he had an eternity to allow that to come to fruition.

"Son of a Skritt...", Julianna muttered lowly under her breath, as she suddenly wished to have been working on a low tide-smelling pirate from Lion's Arch rather than one of the stuck up nobles.

But as always, she hadn't much choice in the matter.

She was caught off guard when he patted the top of her head again and winked at her before moving past to join Grand Vizier Utumishi and the nobles again.


	26. Stoking the Fire

**I don't own anything except for my OC.**

xxx

 _She was caught off guard when he patted the top of her head again and winked at her before moving past to join back with the others again._

Julianna had returned back to the group only for a short moment before she asked the noble who had an injured foot to come step back aside with her so she could tend to the wound. The woman was knelt down and balancing on the ball of her heels as she worked on her patient. She had been entirely not surprised to see that the so-called injury had been nothing more than a minor twisted ankle, even though it had been regarded as, 'the most painful thing I have ever experienced in all my long, noble life'. The healer diagnosed that the muscle around the bone had some obvious swelling, but from her own medical diagnosis, she allotted that such slight discomfort was probably one of the least most troublesome injury that could have been acquired after traversing through the dangerous land of the Desolation.

As she coated her hands in a warming blue aura, she finally decided to speak up as the silence between the two was becoming uncomfortable. She cleared her throat before speaking up.

"So, if you don't mind answering. Why come all the way here instead of sending a letter or a courier?" Julianna asked, watching as the noble's foot already began to reduce in its swelling.

The pompous man above looked as though he was having an internal debate about speaking to someone else that was much lower than himself on the totem pole, but he eventually caved in. "Because our beloved King Joko invited us here to discuss these matters more privately. He is assured that given the lack of progress made in Twilight Harbor, means that there must be spies unknowingly hidden among the walls of Palawadan right now."

"Ah...", the woman lamely replied, unsure of what else to say.

"The matter of the situation in that town should have already been resolved, so Joko says, but the Sunspears have been like an unstoppable weed", the man continued, looking towards where his Prince and the tall undead ruler were conversing in a group near the middle of the room. "They've been harassing our convoys and disrupting trade among all else. How can they expect to receive any goods or food when they keep making a mess of things?"

"I'm sure they aren't getting much anyway...", Julianna mumbled under her breath, brows furrowing together as her face hardened and her bleeding heart rang out. She was quite familiar with the levels of wealth and poverty after seeing the extreme distinct display of it back in Lion's Arch. The woman hadn't quite been living in the slums of the harbor, but there were still a couple of hospitals situated in higher places of prosperity within the bustling city.

She could suddenly sense a pair of eyes boring into her very soul, and she could instantly feel the hairs on the back of her neck rise. Her head didn't dare to turn around, as she was in disbelief that the terrifying monarch could have actually heard her from all the way over here on the other side of the throne room. Though she assumed by distasteful looking face her patient must have been wearing, meant that he had likely been watching their transgression and assumed the worst.

That or he was just seeking to bother her as much as possible.

Joko had indeed been watching the entire ordeal from afar, as he could quite easily tell even when he hadn't been able to hear anything that his stubborn little healer must have said something entirely distasteful giving the annoyed look her patient was currently wearing.

"Is the lout getting herself into trouble as per usual?" Grand Vizier Utumishi spoke up, adjusting the high collar of his shirt as he walked up. He had left the nobles to converse among themselves when he could see that his ruler had become fixed on something else again.

"Indubitably", the undead answered, keeping his answer short and as he continued watching from afar. He didn't bother hiding the awful smile on his face when he could see how uncomfortable his distanced staring had caused to the mortal. The lich practically reveled in how easy it was to annoy her.

"You know, I must say, she's been alive a lot longer than most though", Utumishi asked, trying to pry into the personal reasoning as to why his undead king had found some bizarre fixation on the bothersome mortal. There had been many sorts of mortals that had come though the gates of the Bone Palace, but few had lingered around for too long before they were turned Awakened or fed to a hungry Junundu. The nosy adviser had tried to share the conversation with Wurmmarshal Ekolo and Troopmarshal Olori Ogun, but neither had shared an interest in the topic.

While the short balding man had not an ounce of care within him for the woman, he was greatly curious about why his leader had kept her around for so long now. He craned his neck up considerably to see Joko had been intently watching the woman and was now completely ignoring the nobles behind them. Though they hadn't seem too bothered given they were currently discussing whether an Elonian red or white wine was better suited to a plate of Orrian steak fritters.

Eventually said person in question seemed to have reaching her boiling point as her head of bouncy hair whipped around to shoot the lich a less-than pleasant looking glare from across the room.

A deep chuckle resonated from Joko's hollow chest at her meager attempt to look intimidating from afar. He shifted from foot to foot, finally breaking eye contact with the busy healer as she finally returned back to her work.

"The little tart is an endless amount of entertainment for me", the tall undead answered with his hands moving around expressively, decidedly returning back to his conversation with his adviser. He looked back around to see the annoying group of air-headed nobles and mumbled some ill-curse under his breath as he hardly looked forward to conversing with them again.

"But my king, she's been rebelling your magnificent and glorious presence ever since the day her pathetic hide showed up here?" Utumishi tried again, raising a singular brow towards the monarch.

"And your point, my dear underling?" Joko returned, raspy voice now sounding bored with the conversation at hand.

Utumishi struggled with his words for a moment. "Well, if I were in your place, I would have reduced her disrespectful corpse into a steaming pile of ash and bones long ago."

Joko merely rolled his eyes at the comment, shaking his head towards the ignorant answer. The captured Ascalonian healer had been an asset to him and his Awakened army, even though her occupation would eventually become unnecessary after his undead forces had grown to an unstoppable amount. Though he came to learn that she had also become a toy for him to play with as well, given she had a fire within her that had been constantly lashing out at him. But rather than being dissuaded, he had promised himself to break it down and extinguish it to absolute nothingness.

But at some point along the way, it had backfired for him. He had realized at a certain point that while he had originally wished for nothing more than to break her resolve and stubbornness into a pile of insignificant dust underneath his foot, he also found himself craving it. And the long-living lich easily recognized that if he were to eradicate it completely then it would cease to be, and thus put an end that source of enjoyment.

And so rather, he decided to selfishly cater to that desire instead while he cultivated and grew it so he could greedily take away the pickings when it came time. Of course that also meant he was dealing with another living person's emotions and well-being in this case, as one can only be subject to such torment for so long before they snap and break.

However he hardly cared about that so long as he was gaining something from the encounter.

xxx

Wurmmarshal Eranko Ekolo had arrived to the Bone Palace late in the night, as she had been called forward in advance for her expertise in the field when the group made arrival to the recently captured and dubiously renamed Palawadan. She had loitered behind in the throne room for only a short time, as she struggled to listen to the petty gossip that Grand Vizier Utumishi had felt sharing with her the second she stepped foot in front of the three chairs. The well-respected marshal cursed under her breath for allowing the stout man to get even a second of a word in, as she knew from past experience he was a glutton for drama.

Though the marshal wouldn't have outwardly admitted that there were a couple incredibly interesting pieces of information she willingly stashed aside.

But rather than stay within the confines of the throne room above ground and be left to converse with meddlesome adviser, she shoved herself away and descended below into the long hallway of Bitumen Reserve. The Awakened had brought along a new piece of literature to share with the recently captured healer, and admittedly she had been quite curious about the state of the woman after overhearing all of the particulars.

Julianna Fyre had been in her depressing-looking room and was laying atop her musty smelling mattress, her head well sunken down into the flat, worn pillow. After dealing with the nobles and planning for the immediate trip to Palawadan, she had spent the rest of the day going back to her usual regime of tending to the Awakened's injuries and wounds outside the palace. Currently, she was lost among her troubling thoughts as she had the intricate scarab-decorated ring pulled off while she was examining its carved and detailed surface.

There was suddenly a rapid succession of knocks to her door, before the person behind it quickly opened the flimsy piece of wood without further consent from the owner inside.

The healer's heart had nearly dropped into her stomach as she was immediately expecting Joko to have barged back in to continue with his incessant teasing once more. Surprisingly, the undead ruler had left her alone the rest of the day, so she figured it was probably due time for him to show his decaying face again. There was a great show of worry of etched on her freckled face before it relaxed back into immediate relief upon seeing the familiar form of the female Wurmmarshal instead. She let out a sigh of relief, sinking back down into the uncomfortable mattress again

"Expecting someone else?" Ekolo asked, ducking under the door frame because of her taller height. Although the high-ranking Awakened did have a part to play in finding her trail, she felt there was no reason for that to be shared with the kind yet naive woman. Afterall, she was only doing her job for the betterment of Joko's growing necroarchy.

"No", Julianna quickly shot back, replacing the ring back on its designated middle finger before turning herself to lay on her side. Her back was now facing the undead marshal, as she didn't wish to have her reddened face on display for the sharp eyes watching her. She could feel the color warming her face, and she cursed her inept ability to hide her displayable emotions.

"Well, your return seems to have somewhat improved our leader's unpredictable and shifting mood form the past few days", Ekolo continued as she shut the door behind her. She tried to sway the conversation, as she could see she had easily bothered the little mortal she had slowly come to appreciate.

The marshal continued as she turned back around. "Though his behavior hasn't yet returned to its former, _glorious_ state", she said, the last part heavily laced with sarcasm. "It seemed to have shifted just after your sudden and rather inconvenient leave though, which is none too surprising. But I would dare to suggest that there's still obviously a rift between the two of you, so any particular reason why that may be?"

"Not at all", Julianna mumbled, not allowing herself to open up about the details that had happened between her and the terrifying undead ruler back in his private office. While she wasn't open to talking about it out loud, the recollection of the tender moment she had shared with Joko had still been following her closely ever since it had occurred. Of course that had been atop the constant distraction of thinking about the addition of the scarab in her arm and other recent traumatic memories.

Ekolo shook her head at the stubborn answers, putting her one unoccupied hand atop a hip and rolling her opaque colored eyes. She wasn't going to back down so easily though. "Interesting you would say that. Utumishi told me something entirely different."

The healer suddenly shifted around and sat up to face the other person in her room, her features glowering with anger at the mention of the name. "What did that big-mouthed leech of an adviser say to you?"

"Just some interesting circumstances that I found to have answered some of my previous questions about the situation between you and Joko", the Wurmmarshal continued in a mischievous tone, failing to hide a smile on her weathered face.

Julianna opened her mouth to say something, but snapped it shut quickly. She grabbed locks of her short curly blonde hair in frustration before letting out a long muffled groan before and falling back on the bed disgracefully. She hardly flinched as a thick layer of dust rose up and around her body before settling again.

"Skirt-for-brains... I assume you're joining us on this journey back to Istan then?" the miffed-looking woman asked aloud as she stared at the ceiling above.

"Indeed I am. I aim only to pledge the unquestioned fealty of myself and my wurm corps", she answered, moving to the pile of endlessly growing books atop the nightstand next to the bed. She set a new piece of literature that she had brought along on the tower of pages, balancing it precariously and noticing that the healer was going to need a bookshelf at this rate.

The resting woman had turned her head to stare at the spine of the new book, reading its title. She was still incredibly grateful for the marshal for continuing to bring her books, even after her attempted plan of escape. They had become one of the few things she could busy herself with in her sparse free-time. That was, if Joko wasn't choosing to come bother or tease her instead.

"You surely wouldn't be thinking of trying to leave the reigns of his eminence so soon again?" Ekolo asked to the unusually quiet woman. Under most other circumstances when the marshal had come to speak with the mortal in times past, they would have spent some time sharing two-sided thoughtful conversation. As such, she knew from experience that her talkative companion was acting quite out of character.

Julianna's mouth formed a hard line as her hand moved to hold her bandaged forearm.

"No", she muttered with finality before turning to lay on her side again.


	27. The Return to Istan

**I don't own anything except for my OC.**

xxx

 _"You surely wouldn't be thinking of trying to leave the reigns of his eminence so soon again?" Ekolo asked to the unusually quiet woman._

The group had set off early the next morning, as they had planned to cross the short threshold of the Desolation towards the sea where the noble's ship and its corresponding crew awaited their return. There had been little room for questions about who was to tag along on this journey as the support of an adviser, marshal and healer were brought along for extra support. If there were indeed problems arising within Twilight Harbor with the Sunspears rebelling against the Awakened forces, then their individual skills would be required for a near-flawless takeover.

Julianna Fyre had remained near the back of the group as they traveled through the barren landscape, which had caused some disappointment to the undead ruler. Though Joko certainly didn't allow it to show if he was even bothered at all by it. The Scourge had remained near the front, leading the sizable Awakened army behind him with his adviser and Wurmmarshal near the front lines as well.

It had been all too similar to the journey the healer had endured back when she was first unwillingly recruited for the ranks of the Awakened army, as this very same path had been taken once before.

The tired looking woman yawned again as she walked, rubbing at her dark encircled and sunken looking eyes as she tried desperately to keep herself awake. She had been without any good sleep for days now, as her nights were either plagued with nightmares of the varying sort. If it wasn't the repeated images of Koss and Lonai being mercilessly slain, then it was instead a number of horrifying situations Julianna had found herself within during the past month.

"There's a branch there", Crabby suddenly said, as he had been walking just to the right of her. The burly looking Awakened soldier could still hardly stand the woman even though he probably had more interaction with her than any other random undead. But he could tell the combination of the healer's constant lack of attention to her surroundings as well as the obvious sleep deprivation had been a nearly deadly duo for her.

"What-", Julianna tried to say but was interrupted when her foot caught on a decaying piece of wood and she nearly planted face-first into the cracked dirt below. She was able to quickly right herself back up again after almost falling, and she surged a swell of magic into her arms as she debated casting a fiery smite spell on the branch in sheer frustration.

"Just pay attention to where you're going", Crabby simply remarked, rolling his yellow eyes at the woman's show of anger. His tone had sounded annoyed, as per usual whenever he was speaking to her.

The healer relinquished the magic in her palms, shooting an bothered look to the familiar wall of muscle walking near her. Her trouble-inducing mouth was just about to get her into more problems, but she halted when she could feel someone watching her. Her head of curly hair whipped back around to look back up at the front of the group and she frowned.

Once or twice she had caught Joko craning his head around to look back at her through the ranks, though whether or not that was because he actually cared about her well being was a tough call to make. Julianna had figured he likely was only making sure that she hadn't decided to try escaping again, as he knew his trust in her loyalty was far less than admirable now.

Though currently, she realized he must have seen her entire ordeal of nearly making a fool of herself as she almost had a mouthful of dirt of breakfast.

"Doylak spit...", she muttered, as her non-bandaged arm went to grasp the other that had still been wrapped up. The living scarab that had been implemented under her skin was more than irrefutable proof that he didn't quite trust her anymore.

The woman's current irritation and foul mood had decided without question that she was going to return back to her own childish tactics, even though she knew from past harrowing experiences that it generally wasn't a good idea with the undead ruler. She stuck her tongue out towards him from their furthered distance and watched with satisfaction, as he knew he couldn't do anything from all the way up the near the front of the brigade. Or at least so she thought.

But he did something else that ultimately surprised her and caught her completely off-guard. She was quite taken aback herself when she saw him mirror her own action and he stuck out his own gray-ish colored tongue right back towards her.

Julianna's own tongue quickly retreated back into her mouth, as she filled her cheeks with air and crossed her brows tightly together as she watched the lich from afar. She watched as he continued his game for a few seconds longer, before he pulled back his tongue and grinned widely upon knowing he had won.

The healer crossed her arms as she walked, narrowing her eyes and muttering under her breath as she looked out at the passing landscape in an attempt to hide the light pink blush on her cheeks.

"There's another branch right there", Crabby announced abruptly.

Julianna nearly went into a screaming fit of rage as she wasn't as lucky the second time around as her face met the dried earth below.

xxx

Julianna Fyre now found herself standing atop the deck of a large Elonian-designed ship. She was situated within the middle of the boat, away from other people or undead soldiers as she had chosen to keep to herself for the time being. Her mind was still riddled with the premise of the conversation that she had shared with Wurmmarshal Ekolo from the night before. The stone-faced woman was picking at the indentations of the scarab-designed ring on her finger as per her usual nervous tidbit.

The journey across the sea wasn't expected to have taken very long, as the strait between the mainland and the island of Istan was short. The waters they sailed upon were surprisingly calm, and there was a good breeze on the air as it graciously carried the large billowing sails hanging above. A sizable flock of noisy seagulls had been following the ship close behind, as the smell of decay and death had enticed the sea-faring birds.

Palawa Joko, Grand Vizier Utumishi and the Prince had remained on the higher elevated part of the quarterdeck, as they could look out upon the now collaborating crew of Istan sailors and Awakened as they tended to the moving parts of the working ship. The nobles had lingered around there as well, as they resembled a group of lemmings that were constantly following their leader around whenever possible. They wouldn't dare stray from their role-model for too long.

The large group of Awakened and along with the few mortals, had constituted a good sized battalion as they made headway for the newly renamed Palawadan.

Joko had made certain to eradicate any of the Sunspear filth that had dared to rise up against his conquering agenda. He had been slowly and systematically taking over the regions piece by piece, as most of Vabbi and its dwindling forces were now crushed beneath his bold assaults. If said-forces were not turned to become a mortal loyal follower to his cause, then they were instead killed and resurrected to become an Awakened soldier instead. Either that or their corpses were left as a visual reminder to those still-living that would dare oppose his tyranny.

The undead king's disruption to the continent had caused quite the stir though, and it had allowed the pesky Sunspear forces to come crawling from whatever hole they lived within to try and overthrow him. He had made certain to crush their morale at whatever opportunity that presented itself, as he knew their numbers were rapidly dwindling and they were fighting a lost cause at this point.

"How many of those blasted Sunspears do you think are still around?" one of the men within the circle of nobility asked aloud. "I've heard rumors of some particular determined people hiding out in Twilight Harbor. I believe the name was Amala, or something like that? She's been nothing but a pain for Palawadan."

"We tried reasoning with her and offered that she surrender without a fight", the Prince replied, crossing his short fingers over his round belly. The paisley designed shirt was near bursting at the front buttons as it looked to be a size too small for the obviously well-fed noble.

Joko had half-been listening to their conversation since the second they left the confines of his Bone Palace. His long-life had allowed a near-insurmountable amount of patience, but it seemed to have been dwindling to the last possible ounce after talking to the air-headed nobles for far too long. After one conversation too many, he finally dismissed himself away from the group and decided to retreat from their company for as long possible before it was only entirely necessary again. He darted down the short stairs away from the quarterdeck, and stopped to look around for his entertaining toy.

The woman was found quite easily, as her head of light colored hair stood out boldly against the dark wood coloration of the ship. The lich quickly strode over, stopping to stand just adjacent as she had been situated near the railing and was looking over out into the never-ending sea. He couldn't help but hide the grin across his sunken-looking face as he could tell she had noticeably stiffened within his presence.

"You should consider yourself quite exceptional that the most grandiose and highest-ranking nobleman such as myself would choose to indulge my busy time with the likes of you", Joko began, leaning sideways across the rail so he could better judge the face of his companion.

Julianna's mouth formed a tight line as she absorbed the backwards sounding compliment which quite honestly had sounded closer to that of an insult. Such a statement coming from the egotistical undead ruler should have been expected at this point however.

"Very funny...", she muttered, not daring to turn to look at him even though she knew he was closely watching. She sniffed the air, not surprised to sense that not even the overwhelming smell of salt on the air could have outweighed the pungent odor of decay and too-strong of fine smelling oils coming from the person now standing next to her.

"If you're a noble yourself, then why don't you like hanging out with people of your kind?" she asked while trying not to sound too judgmental, as she willed herself to turn to the lich and raised a high brow towards him. She looked around and past him up towards where the group of pompous men still stood loitering around.

"Because I like only me, myself and I", Joko replied quickly without skipping a beat as though the line had been rehearsed dozens of times before. He paused to think, before a sly grin formed across the features of his face. "Though I must say, I do enjoy strawberry tarts whenever the occasion arises."

The short woman next to him sounded as though she had choked on a cough, as she shot a displeased pink-tinted face at him. She quickly returned to staring back out at the choppy waters before her as she wanted to try and hide the traitorous coloration of her face. There wasn't anything more she felt like saying after that last comment, but Joko was quick to fill in the gap of conversation.

"Indulge in my curiosity once again, do you think anyone from your past life has actually come looking for you?", he said, not skipping around in the hard truth. He drummed his fingers across the railing while his other hand moved under his chin to prop up his chin. "Your occupation is hardly something rare, and you just happened to show up at the wrong place and the wrong time. Though I must say, it's _benefited_ me greatly."

Julianna didn't even know what to say to the words, as they had been like a physical slap to her face. She bit down on her tongue, holding back from saying anything more further. Part of her had been hoping this trail of conversation would have reverted back to the similar ones she used to partake in before she had tried to escape the confines of her entrapment.

"Tell me, what would your poor parents think of your long-term predicament?" he asked, smiling cruelly as his tone was disgustingly upbeat. "I'm most certain you have them, even though the only detail in your previous life you have chosen to indulge within was about your previous occupation when you worked at a small rundown clinic in Lion's Arch."

"Well, there isn't too much to say. My father had died in battle around the time when I was a teenager, or at least that's how the stories from my mother went", Julianna began after taking a pause of morale debate about whether or not she wanted to share such private information with the undead ruler. She let out the breath she had been holding in and turned back to watch him, but found he was now the one staring out ahead instead.

"How noble", he answered simply with a bored sounding tone, idly picking at something within his teeth.

"He wasn't actually slain in battle like my mother and most others believed though", she continued even though her audience seemed hardly captivated. "He succumbed to death not longer after that skirmish because of an untreated infected wound from a slash he had received. It's pretty jarring to learn about how often soldiers die from that kind of thing."

Joko had raised a brow at that last part, the parts of his headdress jingling with noise. Living soldiers were not something he had to worry himself with. If his soldier's were wounded, then they could be patched together with tar rags or merely reanimated once again.

"I suppose it inspired me to become a healer sometime later", Julianna said, flicking at stray grains of sand that had been embedded into her wrapped arm. "Even though my current patients are mostly comprised of walking undead ones..."

"You know, we would be inclined to call that a cruel bout of irony", Joko replied with finality, deciding he had quite enough of the woman's backstory as it had hardly held his interest. But he would be inclined to agree that the stubborn tart was still far better company to that of the nobles. His head moved backwards to see if the group and his worm-like adviser were still occupied with their own banter, which he was pleased to see was still true. The longer time he could spend away from them, then the better.

"What about your family?" Julianna suddenly asked, deciding to bounce the question right back to its source. Even through the past conversations she had shared with him, he hardly ever deviated his self-centered boasting about his pre-lich life.

Joko had turned back around quite quickly as the question had nearly caught him off-guard, and he was now facing towards the short person next to him. He hummed aloud, rolling the question around in his head for some time as he decided how truthfully he wanted to answer it. He had spent a careful amount of time bolstering lies to help greater increase his infamy, and the last thing he would have needed was a certain person to go around spreading the immediate truth instead. But he had manipulated and coiled the woman tightly enough around his finger now to know that she wouldn't dare seek to do such a thing against him.

"I was born into nobility, and often followed after my mother during her diplomatic tours", he said, rubbing at his chin in thought as the metal of lip ring clattered against the metal on his fingers.

He continued, tone now sounding mischievous. "There isn't much to say", he echoed her prior words right back with a knowing smile.

"That really doesn't give too much insight into your past", Julianna retaliated back, quizzically turning her head as she was hardly impressed at his counter attack for dodging her question.

A cackle grew deep within the undead ruler's chest as he looked down at the freckled woman standing next to him. "Then I suppose you'll just have to spend more time with the great and magnificent, Palawa Joko to get such information."

Julianna was about to open her mouth to say something more against the matter as she could see she was on the losing side of things now, but she was swiftly interrupted when he reached out and roughly grabbed the lower half of her face. In but mere seconds, she was immediately terrified of the lich again as he had switched his unpredictable behavior before she could have even reacted. She stubbornly tried to pull her face away, even though she was held rigidly still and the movement would have threatened to tear skin.

"Oh, but my dear, not to worry. I can be patient though, as I do have an eternity after all", he announced, craning her head up considerably so she was forced to watch his own smug face. He only laughed as he pressed his thumb and index finger tighter against the squished flesh so it forced the mortal's lips to scrunch up uncomfortably.

Julianna's own hands flew up towards her face after the tight grip had been relinquished. She gently massaged the abused skin, relived to feel that none of her skin had been torn open from the assault. A shaky sounding sigh escaped from her mouth as she patted at her face and then glared up towards the much taller lich.

"If you're going to retaliate in the immature manner that I know you are about to do", Joko said quickly as the stubborn woman's quips were all too predictable now. "Then I would highly suggest to you think twice about it. After all, we wouldn't want to make a mess of things up here for all to see."

The woman chewed on her lower lip and bit down hard enough on it that it was threatening to bleed. She inhaled a deep intake of breath through her nose and crossed her arms across her chest. There was an obvious hidden suggestive meaning behind his last comment, but another part of her believed the other part of it to have been a very real and dangerous threat to her mortal life.

But a much larger part of her assumed the former of the two implications given the two's current twisted relationship with each other.


	28. Palawadan, Jewel of Istan

**I don't own anything except for my OC.**

xxx

 _But a much larger part of her assumed the former of the two implications given the two's current twisted relationship with each other._

The motley crew of Awakened and otherwise varying mortals of importance had remained on their seaward journey on the ocean for only a short while longer. Their large Elonian-designed ship had eventually made harbor in the docks of the most recently renamed Palawadan, as the island of Istan was not too far off from the mainland of Elona. The calm waters were filled with fishing and cargo ships of various sizes, as the sea was a rich and bountiful resource for those who lived nearby. Harbor masters shouted various orders towards the dock workers who tirelessly worked their jobs and hauled boxes of supplies across the creaking wooden planks.

The unusual looking group slowly departed on a plank from the ship, while some struggled to regain the feeling of their unconditioned sea legs as they made their way onto the platform.

Standing upon the private dock that was specifically quartered away from the daily rabble of the lower class, had been an eager group of even more appointed nobles that had been patiently awaiting the arrival of their undead King and the uncertain return of their Prince. The tall lich stood was standing right before them now, as he was selfishly savoring the limelight as the increasing crowd of noble folk were clamoring for his attention. This type of attention was practically his calling, as he reveled in the infamous name he had created for himself.

The Prince had needed only to clap his hands a few times as they lingered around on the dock, the stout man then declaring the need for fine food and drink in a dinner celebration. Although the impending assault on Twilight Harbor hadn't yet happened or had even begun its early planning stages, it was decided a premature triumph could be held to help bolster morale. And even though there had been an increase in the amount of food being stolen by the blasted Sunspear rebels around the island, there was still plenty hoarded away for such an occasion.

The now much larger group set off towards the inner city, as the Prince remained near the front so he could explain and show off all of the wondrous renovations that were being constructed in King Palawa Joko's name.

Grand Vizier Utumishi, Wurmmarshal Osa Ekolo and Julianna Fyre had been one of the last few to walk off the confines of the boat, as the rest of the crew worked to secure the dock lines so the ship wouldn't float back into the ocean's current.

"You know, this reminds me of the time when we had a dinner assassination attempt at the Gardens of Seborhin back in Vabbi", Utumishi noted aloud, as he turned to address the curly haired woman next to him. "Hopefully this time you won't be hit by another flying weapon and fail to react appropriately, hmm?"

"Hopefully your big, dumb head won't get nailed by another flying pillow again, hmm?" she immaturely echoed back almost instantly, brows knitting closely together as she glared at the adviser. Thoughts relayed back to around that same time when she had successfully thrown a feather-lined cushion and gotten a direct hit at the worm-like man she had already detested even way back then.

Utumishi just huffed loudly in annoyance and stuck his nose up in the air before deciding his current company was hardly worth the effort. He quickly sauntered off to go catch up with the folk far more similar to his likeness.

Ekolo merely shook her head at the short verbal spat between the two, as she found their exchange all too predictable after knowing them for some time.

Julianna paused and remained behind to take in the scenery of the same harbor she had been standing in just over a month ago. She had immediately noticed that the large humanoid statue that had once been holding a shield and spear as a symbol to the Sunspears, was now pulled down from its former location atop the structure it stood upon. The piece of art was laying among rubble in three large sectioned pieces been each been cracked and broken considerably. It looked as though the sculpture had been carelessly pulled from its roost, as gravity was allowed to take care of its fate.

Already there were foundations being laid in place to construct a new statue in the glory of the newly named God King of Elona. People both mortal and undead were hurrying through the streets with various supplies in hand, as the area resembled something to that of a busy termite hill as everyone had an important task to fulfill. Banners of black and gold that displayed Joko's personal insignia of the flying scarab beetle and whip were displayed on nearly every sizable surface. If there were any visible signs of a Sunspear influence, then they had long since been destroyed or removed with vigor since the city's recent change of alignment.

The still exhausted-looking healer was just about to turn around to catch back up with the group near the central plaza, but something resting in between two cracked vases in the pile of rubble caught the healer's eye. She walked over to investigate and knelt down, reaching through the ceramic pieces as she pulled out a small object.

A small doll was nestled atop her palm, the child's toy simply made with easily attainable materials. Woven animal hair for a braid and a tattered-looking piece of canvas rag for its dress. A pair of large black buttons stared back at the person above, as they nearly mirrored the woman's own dark encircled eyes.

Julianna could feel her heartstrings pulled every which way possible, as she thought of the child this doll probably belonged to and wondered about their current fate. The notion that children would otherwise be affected by the tyrannical takeover of King Palawa Joko had been a realization shoved far back into the recesses of her mind as she tried to ignore it. But the physical apparition in her palm was a blatant reminder that it would obviously not have been just adults that were being affected by the Scourge's conquest over the continent.

Wurmmarshal Osa Ekkolo had remained standing close by to the scene, opaque colored eyes observing the bleeding heart before her. The protective side of her didn't want the healer getting into any more trouble, even though she wasn't sure that wasn't possible after the stubborn petite woman had already tried escaping once before.

She cleared her throat to announce her presence. "Perhaps it would benefit you to know that there were many of civilians who were able to escape with their lives when the Awakened forces took over Kamadan", Ekolo began, looking to the small doll.

The questionable but most-respected Marshal's own dead heart also sang out for the mysterious child's unknown current circumstance, but she was far less keen to admitting her feelings aloud or even outwardly showing them. Even when it was to someone that she had grown a fondness of friendship towards.

"We should make haste and return to the group before they realize our absence", Ekolo continued, placing a hand atop her satchel decorated hip and looking back towards the inner city. "Especially since our King has become quite keen to wanting to know of your location at all times."

"I wonder why that would be...", Julianna mumbled, turning around to shoot the marshal an unimpressed look. She looked back down to the doll in her hand, deciding to pocket the toy as its fate wouldn't last much longer in this location anyway. The hopeful woman held onto a small sliver of hope that perhaps she could run into the child and return it to its rightful owner.

Though she knew those odds could have possibly been very well impossible.

xxx

The company of mortal and undead were now indoors and shielded from the harsh rays of the day as they were currently walking through the long hallways of imposing central building. They moved about through the main building with meaning, as they were heading towards the large dining hall to discuss further operations in Twilight Harbor. The group consisted only of the most important sort now, as the brigand of Awakened troops and soldiers such as Crabby had been left behind in the city to shamble about to their own doing until they were called upon again.

Joko was still constantly swarmed by the incessant questioning and babbling of the so-called Prince taking care of Palawadan for the time-being. And while he had been enjoying the increase of attention, he was finding himself to become bored with it again as it was hardly of entertaining worth to him. The chatty man's increased legion of squabbling nobles had still been trailing close behind, as they were all more than eager to get even a chance to stand within the presence of their beloved God-King.

Grand Vizier Utumishi and the Wurmmarshal were stuck directly in the middle of the obnoxious bunch, though no one bothered the two of them unsurprisingly. The stubborn healer had been dragged along with the group as well of course, but she remained lingering around at the very back of the group which was still some distance away.

Almost everyone had turned to pass down a restricted hallway that was guarded by two armored soldiers with each a bladed pole-arm in hand. But right before the very last person could pass, the two men lowered their weapons in a crossed formation to block the passage from Julianna.

"Toad tongues...", the petite woman muttered, tired-looking eyes widening in alarm as the sudden action broke her out from her fatigued state. She looked past the weapons to see the tall figure of the lich above the crowd already too far ahead, and he was likely too occupied to have been of any help.

A man that had resembled the character to Grand Vizier Utumishi practically slithered out from behind the temporary muscled wall of the two men, a sneer upon his sharp features as he addressed the disheveled woman. He wore an expensively dyed shirt with a high collar, the rest of his clothes looking mostly similar as his tailored heels clicked against the tiled floor.

"A lowly servant trying to sneak in behind the group of our esteemed guests?" he asked, looking the stranger up and down with a sharp glare. He mentally noted her attire looked as though she had just crawled out of a Dredge burrow, as she was adorned with a ratty long coat and rusted armor boots. He figured there was no possible way on Tyria she could have been aligned with the likes of King Joko and she must have been some lowly civilian trying to sneak in for some opportunity to steal from the rich.

The olive-skinned man continued with venom in his tone. "Quite bold of you to assume you could slip past without notice."

"I know I probably look like a walking corpse right now, but I'm with the group that went past", Julianna countered, leveling a glare of her own irritated fervor towards the unwelcoming man. She was more exhausted than ever after the trip here, and her patience was nearly depleted.

"Do you have any proof of such a thing?" he asked, crossing his arms behind his back.

The armored men looked to each other with apprehension, though neither had faltered from moving their held weapons.

Julianna felt flustered at the accusing question. She struggled to say anything further, as she thought of what she could show to help validate her claim. Her hands patted around the inner pockets of her coat, pausing only when she felt the doll she had picked up earlier. There really was nothing she had to show, as all she had were scars and a ring and those were hardly anything unique.

"Look, I don't have anything physical to prove my title to you", she replied back, finding herself growing more and more frustrated as it worsened her trait to speak before thinking. "I could use my healing or magic, but I'm not about to waste any of that on the likes of you."

"A likely excuse", he countered back, the man's brows rocketing skyward upon hearing the bold audacity this woman had. Her lack of respect was more than enough evidence to him that she spoke nothing but lies about her so-called title.

She was about to open her mouth and ask about casting a smite spell upon his gnarled looking head but was interrupted by a familiar voice. For once, the woman was actually relieved to hear the gravely sounding voice rather than feeling utterly terrified.

"My, oh my. I certainly hope nothing has gone astray here?" Joko asked, as he slowly walked up to the heated exchange. His clawed feet ticked loudly against the hard, tiled floor as he approached. "I couldn't help but notice my troublesome little healer had suddenly gone missing. I do have to keep a close eye on her, as she has a knack for trying to leave my company."

"G-greetings, my King", the random adviser stuttered, bowing lowly before the eminence now a few feet away from him. He hadn't been expecting the undead ruler himself to have come back to address this current problem.

The lich looked from the adviser and then back to his healer before it returned to the trembling-looking man once more. "If we could hurry this along, that would be tremendously splendid as I have places to be and nobles to entertain. So, are you going to allow my healer to pass through, or not? I would hope you aren't going against your King's most obvious suggestion" he asked, voice already beginning to sound impatient and slightly dangerous.

"O-of course not! I would never even dare to impose such a thing!" the adviser stuttered. He shuffled around hurriedly, hands frantically motioning to the guards to lower their weapons and allow passage. The two armored men quickly did as they were told, all watching as the nervous-looking woman slipped past to stand unassumingly next to their king.

Julianna looked concerned for a brief moment, as she could feel an uncomfortable but familiar tension in the air. She was about to give her piece of mind on the situation to try and make light of things given her caring heart, but was stopped prematurely when Joko moved his hand to her lower back and pushed her forward gently in clear indication that she was to start walking forward away from the scene. She had only gotten a few feet forward before she stubbornly stopped in her tracks and looked back to see that the much taller immortal had leaned down to say something into the ear of the random dutiful adviser. Her eyes watched in real time as the man's dark colored complexion turned considerably lighter as the color drained from his face.

Joko's ring covered lower lip widened considerably across his face as he fully stood back up to his towering height, clapping his tar-stained hands together in finality before nodding towards the three.

"What did you just say to him?" Julianna asked as she watched him approach again.

"Oh, nothing you need to worry your pretty head about", he nearly sang back with an awful smile still on his withered face. "I simply reminded him that if he were to ever question his magnificent ruler's agenda again, then he simply would be killed, turned Awakened and then thrown into the harbor's waters with a statue of me tied to his feet as a generous compensation."

Joko cruelly laughed aloud at the imagined situation and as he saw the disgusted looking face of Julianna as she absorbed his cruel words. He continued. "It isn't like he would be without company at the bottom of the ocean. He would have my glorious person captured within a lovely piece of art to look at for the rest of his immortal days."

The kind healer shook her head at how utterly horrifying that entire theory was. More so because it would have been completely realistic and reasonable enough that the threat would have been carried out without second thought if it were entirely desired.

"You know", he began, snaking a tar-stained arm around the woman's upper back so it rested upon her other shoulder. He could immediately feel her tense upon the physical contact, so he rewarded the behavior by pulling her even closer to his side as they walked down the hallway together. The closeness had reminded him against of the sharp contrast between his own cold body against her warm one, as it was a favorable sensation he had come to desire over their few shared times together.

"This achievement-filled, endeavor of a trip is going to be, oh-so fulfilling", he continued, his voice sounding incredibly prideful and as though he were speaking to a large audience. "To continue eradicating those pathetic Sunspears under my illustrious name is going to truly feel rewarding. Especially against those that have been a constant thorn in my side."

Julianna could only think about the physical contact going on between the two of them in that moment, even as simple and mostly harmless as it was. She could feel her own face currently burning with embarrassment, even though there was an added benefit of knowing that there was no one around witness the encounter. But her brain was still a disastrous mixture of past thoughts and memories though as they all decided to come rushing forward again at an inopportune time. And unfortunately for her, her current closeness to the lich was causing her brain to bring back the more intimate of moments that had already occurred between the two of them.

"I'm ever so curious though", he began with suggestion in his tone, humming loudly while not relinquishing his tight hold. "When are you going to play your hand in our little game between us? It technically has been your move for quite some time now, but you haven't enacted upon it."

The cogs in Julianna's brain were slowly turning, as she tried to piece together what the sly sounding ruler was talking about. "What do you mean?" she asked, craning her neck up to look at the companion next to her even though she knew the color of her face was currently betraying her. Her sense of smell was currently overwhelmed once more by the undead's fragrance of death and decay masked poorly by whatever expensive oils he used on himself.

Joko placed a hand over his heart dramatically as though he were wounded by the naive words. The ornaments and jewelry on his person clattered loudly with the sudden movement. "You truly don't know? I mean after all, you were the first one to have initiated the entire thing."

The healer could immediately feel her freckled face flare up even more upon realizing what he was referring to. Suddenly all the pieces had come together and were hitting her all across the face at once. She figured it should have been more obvious given what her past thoughts had just been about. But she would have blamed her fatigued state of mind have gotten in the way of thinking clearly.

"You're seriously asking about that?" she asked back, voice sounding smaller than ever as it almost threatened to come out as a mere squeak.

"Well, I'm only a gentleman about the matter", Joko said with a laugh, though even he knew it was a blatant lie through his own teeth. Though he could hardly care any less about that particular detail. The two continued walking, as he hadn't yet removed his arm and was simply enjoying how uncomfortable the woman under him felt.

Julianna felt incredibly conflicted with herself, as a large part of her was still struggling to forgive his past actions and what he had done. And yet, another more toxic part of her mind was trying to partially defend his terrible actions by constantly reminding her that he hadn't truly been as cruel to her as he could have been. It had been all too similar to the feelings of guilt when she had temporarily escaped her predicament, as the emotion had constantly been eating away at her since the second she had stepped foot outside the Bone Palace. Since her recapture, she had been juggling that emotional baggage while being thrown into an state of feeling like she was truly lost now, and the terrifying immortal lich had become the only constant left in her life.

"I suppose-" Julianna had begun to say but was suddenly interrupted by another voice that stepped out into the hallway. It had caused the both of them to immediately halt in their tracks, though they seemed semi-relieved to immediately recognize the person.

"Ah, King Joko, there you are", Grand Vizier Utumishi began, his once cordial-looking face quickly shifting upon seeing his least favorite person also with his esteemed ruler. At this point in time and after hearing all the gossip, he hardly questioned the two's strange relationship with one another if it could be called one.

The ill-tempered Scourge was meanwhile was standing there debating the future fate of his closest and most trusted underling. This hadn't been the first time the bothersome worm of a man had interrupted his fun with his favorite source of entertainment. This situation had been strikingly similar to the time when Utumishi had walked into his office just as Julianna had decidedly made the first move of their little shared game.

"The Prince and the other nobles have been asking me nonstop about where you wandered off to", Utumishi began, habitually placing his hands behind his back. His eyes moved back towards the lout as he debated mentioning something towards her, but he decided it was better to bite his tongue in this case. He could feel the dangerous aura rolling off the person in front of him, and he knew better than to linger around in it.

"Of course they are...", Joko mumbled, sounding less than pleased as the aspect of already having to return to entertaining the obnoxious group of highborns. He mumbled some curse under his breath, finally removing his limb from his current companion as he decided to return back to his self-appointed responsibilities once more.

The lich made sure to shoot a hated glare towards Utumishi though, fully expecting him to return back from wherever he crawled out from. He needed him out of sight and out of mind before he decided to enact upon a foolish change of mind that he probably would come to regret later.

"I'll still fully expect you to enact on your turn for our game then", Joko continued after he was certain the leech-like adviser was gone, turning back to the woman standing just behind him with a coy smile on his face.

"Very funny", she replied back, trying to rationalize why she had ever willingly made the first move and why she wasn't as bothered with it as she should have been.

She crossed her arms across her chest and continued the battle of her dark colored eyes against his striking blue ones. "I suppose we'll just have to see about that."


	29. Dinner and a Show

**I don't own anything except for my OC.**

xxx

 _She crossed her arms across her chest and continued the battle of her dark colored eyes against his striking blue ones. "I suppose we'll just have to see about that."_

The extravagantly cooked dinner and its fine crystal had already been set for the guests of honor. The dining hall was blooming with life, both undead and mortal as its inhabitants conversed loudly with each other at their seated positions. An endless amount of food and drink was being replenished atop the silk covered table, as the towering plates were adorned with both rich and extravagantly acquired cuisine.

A small group of Awakened soldiers had been invited as guard duty for the extra protection, as they remained standing on each side of the many archways leading into the large room. They had been called in for precaution for the extremely low odds that there would be another attempted assassination on some infamous person's life.

Joko had obviously still been miffed about his adviser interrupting the personal conversation he had been sharing with his healer back out in the hallway, and as a consequence, decided to seat him near the opposite end of the table away from him. He knew this would have greatly bothered his loyal little minion, as the leech had been nearly stuck to his side at any and all times.

Of course this only backfired when he learned Julianna already had an appointed seat near the same area. He was once again, stuck with the incredibly bothersome noble folk who asked him a near endless amount of questions and showered him with a near disturbing amount of praise. Even a megalomaniac such as himself could only listen to the same line of appreciation so many times before it became entirely dull and had lost its meaning.

It seemed the Prince's unknown agenda was to place the less-than orderly looking woman as far away as possible. But the round man would have chalked it up to the fact that there wasn't any possible room given he and his loyal nobles wanted to be seated near the great likeness of Palawa Joko who was sitting at the very head of the table.

Reluctantly, Wurmmarshal Osa Ekolo had been at her ruler's right hand side at very least, though she wished she could have swapped places with anyone else as she had more than enough of her personal fill with the squabble of endlessly babbling nobles. She sighed loudly, not caring in the least at verbally expressing her distaste of seated location as she leaned backwards in her chair to scan the sea of heads for the familiar bob of blonde curls.

Far across the other side of the room, the healer and the lowly adviser sat right across each other as they were both sandwiched in between some random strangers that had the privilege to attending this banquet.

"Do I really have a need to be here?" Julianna asked suddenly, looking up to address the adviser sitting across from her at the finely decorated table. She hadn't much minded being seated so far away from the Scourge, as she currently still unsure about her emotions and what to think of him after her unusual encounter with him back out in the hallway.

The healer also still didn't understand what Joko's reasoning was for decidedly allowing her to participate in this supposed, last-minute dinner escapade. She had already felt incredibly out of place among the high-ranking nobles ever since leaving the desolate grounds of the Bone Palace, but it was even worse now that they were all seated within a smaller confined space and were facing one another across the table. Her tattered and dingy looking attire made her feel as though she were sticking out like a sore thumb within the rich looking crowd.

"Ah, not a big fan of the underbelly that goes on behind most politics?" Utumishi replied, rolling high his light blue eyes from her prior comment as he was displeased enough with his situation already. The last thing he wanted was to share a conversation with the burden of a pest as well, but it seemed the stars were not aligned in his favor tonight.

"No, I really can't say that I am", Julianna retorted back with a sigh as she slumped into her chair, digging her fork into her plate of steak and asparagus with sudden frustration.

"Well, it's not like you would be doing anything much else back at the Bone Palace", the balding man continued, an all-knowing look on his face as he tugged on his long goatee with a sly smirk. "Especially not trying something as foolish as escaping again, as well all know how that turned out for you."

Julianna halted in the assault on her plate and bit the inside of her cheek, fighting back the urge to snap back and cause a scene down at her side of the table. His words had stung and hit hard, even though there was an obvious truthfulness behind them, though she certainly hadn't wanted to admit to it. Her eyes moved down to her bandaged arm, staring at the wrapping as she thought of the scarab laying in wait just underneath her skin.

"I could be healing Awakened troops, or something more useful at least...", she muttered, shaking her head to look away from the physical reminder in her limb. Her other hand moved to grab her cup of graciously filled wine while she remained in her lazily seated position.

"That's what you'll be doing when we make headway into Twilight Oasis, was that not discussed with you before we set out?", Utumishi replied back with finality, sounding bored with the conversation now as he returned back to his own meal.

The woman ignored his crude comment, her eyes instead watching the deep pool of red in the cup as it was reflecting her exhausted looking face. She figured that if she wasn't already troubled by the constant memories that terrorized her on a near nightly basis, then she was instead being mentally worn down by other more pressing problems.

She briefly thought back to the last time she had consumed such similar alcohol, as her face immediately burned with the memory that it had been back within Joko's personal quarters some time ago. That had also been the time when she enacted upon a rather bold display of tenderness towards the undead ruler. Or for lack of better words, had been when she unintentionally started the so-called shared 'game' between the two of them.

Julianna let out some incomprehensible mutter about awful, self-appointed monarchs before bringing the goblet to her lips as she indulged within a rather generous gulp. If there was ever a good time to drink her feelings away, then now was certainly a great reason for it.

Grand Vizier Utumishi looked up after shoving a mouthful of food into his mouth, looking incredibly unimpressed as he observed the scene across from him of his least favorite person. Suddenly something of a great, but devious importance struck his brain as he recalled a rather particular tidbit of information from all the countless previous dinners he had attended. The adviser looked from the goblet in the woman's hand, and then to the same exact looking cup near the head of the table that was currently within Joko's own clawed grasp. The two ceramic pieces were exactly the same, as was the drink that lay within.

As far as Awakened biology went, they no longer needed the function of eating and drinking. And as such, those actions among many others could still be partaken within if one chooses to do so. As for the case of alcohol and desiring the effect to experience inebriation though, it would require a high strength amount of drink to cause a lasting impression on the user. But because the undead's bodies were practically non-functioning anymore, it meant that there was a great lack of blood to run through their weathered and worn body parts.

To combat this, most royal houses and palaces carried varying types of alcohol that held a degree of incredibly high percentage as they were custom brewed. It was always kept around for the situations in which undead guests were being entertained.

And in this case, most everyone in the room was already well aware of the stronger alcohol available, and would limit themselves responsibly.

Except for one particular, naive guest.

"Oh, something you should probably know...", Utumishi began as he watched her, but quickly stopped himself as the idea of actually being kind to the woman was absolutely ludicrous as his intention would never be there. He snapped his mouth back closed, and laced his fingers together underneath his chin as a venomous looking smile marred his face.

Julianna paused from her drink, looking over the rim of the cup to the adviser with a raised brow. "What is it?" she asked.

"Oh, you know what? Never mind me, it was hardly anything of importance anyway", he replied all-too jovial, his grin only growing wider when he saw he woman shoot a pair of narrowed eyes at him before already returning to her drink again.

The adviser was all too aware that if the little lout continued pouring back the drink like she currently was, then it was only a matter of time before it all came crashing down. And it certainly wasn't helped by the bottomless amount of overly strong drink that would be provided.

But he had no intention of letting her in on that piece of information.

xxx

As expected, the naive woman had remained blissfully unaware of the strong alcohol content behind her drink. And it wasn't until she had hit her third glass of wine that she had hit the point of no return. Of course, she hadn't realized until it was too late since she had consumed all three glasses within a very short window of about thirty minutes. And unfortunately for her, its effects had suddenly hit her all at once like a rampaging Minotaur.

Utumishi had been somewhat surprised she was able to keep going even after her first glass downed, but he dismissed it as the fact that she was probably used to drinking the deplorable rum and grog offered back in the slums of Lion's Arch. He would have been even less than surprised if he were to find out the woman probably drank and fornicated with the pirates that loitered around the sea-faring city as well. He hardly saw the woman in a good light, and hadn't planned on changing his perspective on her anytime soon.

The short, fluffy haired woman sat slumped forward in chair, a considerably sized happy grin on her face as she used her palm to keep her face propped upwards. Her exhausted, freckled face was now blotted with a pinkish hue, and her dark eyes looked glossed over.

"You know something... I really... really don't like you Utumishi", Julianna drawled, the comment sounding displeased even though the woman was smiling like a fool.

"I must say _lout_ , the feeling is very much mutual", Utumishi hastily snapped back, raising a brow towards his drunk cohort across from him. He knew she was well beyond saving at this point as he sat back and enjoyed the impending chaos.

"I'd rather talk to... a slimy Skale than you", Julianna drawled, struggling to think of the aquatic creature as she waved her hands around. She briefly thought back to all the infected Skale bites she had tended to back when she lived in Lion's Arch, and she cursed the creatures for their habit of biting poor unsuspecting travelers and merchants.

The adviser dared to shoot another curious look down the table towards where his benevolent king was still sitting. The short man wouldn't have admitted it, given he valued his own mortal life quite dearly, but he had become incredibly amused to have seen the increasing amount of disapproving looks Joko had been shooting the woman from the front of the table. It was quite obvious that the lich had quickly caught on to her inebriated state as well, and he was keeping a visual tab on her.

Utumishi's blue eyes moved back towards the drunk across from him after analyzing the peeved undead ruler's face for a short moment, grinning from ear to ear when another new idea blossomed within in his near-balding head. He surmised he had been oh-so wrong earlier about the stars not aligning in his favor, as this couldn't have been any better for him.

"Oh, but Julianna", he mused, looking back to the woman across from him who had dropped her dinner fork on the floor and was now struggling immensely to pick it back up whilst in a fit of less-than intimidating string of curses. She had been muttering something about Skales again, even though that conversation had already long since passed.

The nobles that had been sitting around had been shooting curious looks as well to the inebriated stranger near them, but none seemed to care too much as they continued divulging into their own bouts of meaningful conversation and ignored the obnoxious scene just nearby them.

"Hmm?" she hummed aloud, banging her head on the table when she moved to sit back up after finally retrieving the fork. A loud fit of giggles escaped her mouth when she acquired the new head injury, as the pain was dulled from the supporting alcohol content in her veins.

"I have a rather, marvelous negotiation to offer you with", he began, taking a long swig from his own cup of wine. "It seems our most elegant highness is in quite the sour mood right now, and I truly think you are the only one here who can make amends to that."

Julianna swayed from side to side in her chair as the complicated-sounding words from the adviser took twice as long to process in her clouded head. She blinked, a stupidly wide smile breaching her face as she registered who the man was talking about and looked to where said lich was at the head of the table.

She leaned on her hand as she watched him from the furthered distance, or attempted to as she had completely misjudged where her awaiting limb was and the action nearly caused her to fall sideways off the chair and table.

"The poor grumpy bag of bones?" Julianna drawled, looking back to Utumishi with a glazed-over look as she righted herself back up to the best of her ability. "He'll be so mad at me though. I mean, he's already pretty mad at me for leaving, hence this stupid bug in my arm."

The two closest sitting nobles nearly spat out their drink when they overhead the last bit of that conversation.

Utumishi watched as she scratched at the bandage covering her forearm, the short man grimacing at the thought there was a living creature under her skin. He couldn't imagine being burdened with something like that for the duration of his life, but he figured it was a more than worthy consequence.

He cleared his throat and adjusted his collar before continuing. "That's why I'm suggesting you go over there and remediate it", he continued. The adviser had decided he was going to have to stoop down to her level of immaturity and bullheadedness in order to achieve any sort of progress.

"Why?" she asked back, pausing at the binding on her arm as she looked back up.

"I mean, given the couple of situations I've happened to walk in upon, I've been left to assume that there was something of a closeness between the two of you. Unless of course I was completely wrong about the matter", Utumishi countered, knowing full well that this was his ace in the hole.

"Well", the healer said, drawling out the short answer before deciding on an answer as the inner fear she felt towards the lich had been completely and momentarily subsided. "I'll just show you, and you can take those words... and shove them way up where the sun doesn't shine."

With that final comment, the woman clumsily pushed herself out from the chair as she attempted to stand on her own. It proved to be more of a challenge than she thought, as she had to grip the backing of her own chair to steady herself.

Across the table, a keen pair of dark blue eyes had been watching the entire situation from afar, and they were growing darker with rage at each passing moment.

"My king, are you aware of the situation happening with our healer at the other end of the dinner table?" Wurmmarshal Ekolo whispered, her eyes looking back towards where a very drunk Julianna Fyre could be seen. The Awakened marshal's attachment to the woman had her slightly fearing what was going to potentially happen, as she knew nothing could bode well for the unruly behavior.

"Very much so...", Joko replied simply, his voice laced with clear annoyance in his tone. He tapped a pointed finger upon the table in agitation as he watched on.

"Do you wish for me to intervene?" Ekolo asked after a short pause. Part of her hoped she could be given the go ahead to deal with the problem herself, as she could feel her ruler's impatient wrath. He was like a coiled snake, ready to strike at any given moment.

"No", Joko answered, finally rising from his chair with an impassive look on his face as he decided upon a choice. "I'll go deal with our little problem myself."


	30. Consequences to Follow

**I don't own anything except for my OC.**

 **edit: 30 chapters goddamn. yee. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)**

 **edit edit: Twilight Oasis not Twilight Harbor, what am I doing?**

xxx

 _"No", Joko answered, finally rising from his chair with an impassive look on his face as he decided upon a choice. "I'll go deal with our little problem myself."_

Julianna Fyre could hardly walk straight as she carefully made her way towards the front of the table. She had been so inebriated, that she hadn't even noticed the hushed silence that fell upon the entire room after a chair had been noisily dragged backwards as its owner stood up. The healer ignored this because of her drunken unaware stupor and continued with her venture forward. She nearly tripped over her unfitted armor boots, finally pausing from the action as she caught sight of the familiar figure of the tall undead ruler making a bee line straight towards her.

Her dark clouded eyes narrowed, trying to focus on the mirrored images of Joko as he quickly approached. Her hands flew towards her eyes in a naive attempt to rub away the intoxicating effect obscuring her vision.

"You never told me... that you were actually a Mesmer!" Julianna chirped all too happily as she swayed from side to side. A hiccup escaped from her mouth, followed by another bout of giggles.

"It must have slipped my mind...", Joko sarcastically replied back as he stopped to stand just in front of her. He kept his calm facade displayed on the outside, as he knew he had an audience still silently observing the scene. "It would seem the stubborn little tart has consumed one too many drinks tonight."

The healer smiled, her hands grabbing her face as she was practically beaming in drunken idiocy. "Yeah, I think so. Probably? Definitely. How did you know?"

"Simple intuition", he replied, looking down to watch the swaying woman in front of him. He reflexively held out a forearm when she nearly fell over just from trying to stand there, and as expected, she willingly caught his extended limb for provided balance. Although righting herself back up proved to be a real challenge.

Joko's mouth formed a taut line, trying to remain as professional as possible in this situation. His building rage about witnessing her poor choice had been already been subsiding once he had come to be near her again. He looked over to where a group of Awakened soldiers were milling about near a door, as he instantly recognized one of the faces belonging to the one that the ornery woman had apparently named at some point in time.

"Do be a peach and grab this one, will you?" Joko ordered to his loyal underling, using his other unoccupied hand as he pulled the drunk to fully stand back up again, though the action was rewarded by some unintelligible curse of words.

Crabby quickly strode over without question, looping an arm underneath the woman's torso before easily slinging her over his shoulder with little effort. He sighed, an annoyed tone in his voice as he couldn't believe he was the one single Awakened to have been ordered to deal with this mess. He hefted the mortal to fit more comfortably atop his shoulder, though it caused another fit of giggles as she realized her feet were no longer touching the ground.

"Whoa, I finally feel so tall now!" Julianna said, the world now spinning even more as she felt her equilibrium was completely thrown off after being thrown atop the undead wall of muscle.

Crabby rolled his yellow eyes, fighting back to the urge to drop her near-worthless hide on the ground right then and there after hearing the comment. He was quickly regretting his decision to take a post within the dining hall rather than take the previously offered position of guarding the docks in the baking sun instead. He would have preferred to have dealt with the unbearable heat than this current charade.

Joko stood aside from the two, wordlessly nodding to his soldier as the command was received loud and clear.

"I apologize for the inconvenience", he motioned back towards the audience of the Prince and the Vabbian nobles as he followed in suit of his now carried drunken quarry. "But I'm afraid our healer has had far too much to drink tonight. I'll return once I ensure she is... safely tucked away someplace else."

The three quickly escaped the conflicted looks of those left behind in the dining hall, a myriad of gossiping voices rising up the second they were out of sight.

As the trio walked down the long empty hallway with Julianna swinging back and forth from her position like a counter weight inside an old grandfather clock, she suddenly righted herself up when she realized the infamous undead ruler was now trailing right behind her. The happy grin on her face had returned with vigor after seeing both his familiar and irked looking undead one again, as she was even more excited about the fact of how she was almost eye level with him too.

"Oh, there you are! Doing those Mesmer tricks again are you?" she slurred, her cheeks still stained with a bright red coloring from the drink affecting her body. "You know, it sure was a bummer sitting so far away from you at the dinner table. Utumishi was awfully annoyed about that."

"Was he now?" Joko asked, raising a brow as he continued walking behind the two, his clawed feet ticking against the tile. "Were you annoyed as well that you didn't get the opportunity to be so close to me as well?"

Julianna hummed loudly, obnoxiously drawling out the verbal cue. "Yeah, I think so. I mean, it also probably explains why the grumpy bag of bones was so... grumpy."

Joko ignored the comment for the time-being, looking past to see they had arrived at the room. He snapped a single finger, the action halting Crabby right in his steps while his loyal undead minion waited further orders. The lich moved forward, tipping the bottom of the woman's chin and only slightly pushing it upward so she was directly looking at him.

"Or perhaps it was because a certain someone was making a fool of themselves in front of my incredibly important party of guests", he replied, gravely voice on the precipice of a sneer as his grip tightened.

The woman didn't even seemed miffed about the dangerous tone used on her, as she was still smiling like an idiot. "Maybe!" she replied back all-too happily.

The lich removed his hand from her chin, shaking his ornament dressed head as he looked past to see they had arrived at the room he had been looking for. He moved around to open the door and waited as Crabby walked in with Julianna still slung atop his shoulder. Dark eyes watched as the undead soldier walked towards the bed near the center of the room as he deposited his baggage upon it none-too gently.

A predictable mumbled string of curses from the woman shortly followed suit as she hit the covers in an undignified pile.

"Leave", Joko ordered promptly, watching as the Awakened soldier yet again, wasted no time in following the order. He waited until Crabby had left and shut the door behind him before he looked back to where one of his favorite sources of a pastime was.

The undead ruler felt conflicted with himself in that moment, which was a sensation he was mostly not familiarized with given his more than confident personality. Truth be told, he would have preferred his healer's insufferable and drunken company compared to that of the pompous behavior coming from the air-headed nobles back in the dining room. Which was mostly in the sense that the woman was of a great value of entertainment to him, even if it had resulted in her own suffering or torment as a result. He had only slightly detested how much the mortal had come to grow on him in such a short time.

However, the current problem he was faced with was that he still had an image to upkeep which was in-turn, only bolstering his long term plans for complete and total manipulative control of the continent. And unfortunately, he had already told the company upstairs that he would return shortly after dealing with this mess, which meant he was currently just stalling for time.

Julianna awkwardly shuffled herself back up into a sitting position, looking around the unknown, new space with a confused look upon her face. She had no idea what part of the building she was in, only that she had obviously been deposited in some random bedroom. Her eyes roamed around before stopping on the one entity she feared more than anyone else and grinned.

"Grumpy bag of bones, come here", she slurred, moving herself up so she was now standing atop the mattress. Her conscious of clarity was still fuzzy as the effects of the alcohol were still in full swing. The only thing that was currently swimming through her mind, was that she knew the lich had been in a sour mood and she was possibly the only one that could fix that problem. Her drunken, yet bleeding heart wouldn't have allowed for such a problem to continue.

Joko had looked back towards the bed after seeming to be battling within his inner thoughts, as he shot a sharp glare towards the less than desired nickname his healer kept calling him. He'd be damned to the Mists and back if that nickname regrettably stuck. The tall undead crossed his arms behind his back, walking towards the woman struggling to stand and keep herself balanced atop the bed. Unlike the first time, he wasn't preparing himself to catch her the second time around when she ultimately lost her balance and fell forward face first.

"I'm already thinking of a well-placed and thoughtful consequence for the poor choice you decidedly made tonight", he mused aloud as he stopped right before her, though he was still sounding none too pleased even though a villainous smile was gracing his features. "Perhaps another scarab, to go along with the first one? And it can be in your other-"

Before he could have realized what was happening, Julianna was smashing her lips against his in a sloppy kiss. It lasted only a few short seconds before she pulled off and giddily fell backwards into the bed in a fit of drunken giggles.

Joko's nose would have visibly scrunched up if he still had one, as the taste of strong wine was staining the woman's lips. He grimaced, as her advancing forward with the sudden physical display of intimacy was nowhere near the same level as before. And while she may have been drinking during the first time as well, she had hardly been tipsy if even at that. But this was an entirely different situation altogether, as the woman was downright drunk and clearly wasn't in charge of her choices anymore.

He looked back down to see the woman was now cooing about the quality of the sheets she was laying upon, completely oblivious to what she had just done.

The ruler just rolled his eyes at the entire scene, turning around to leave the woman alone with her drunken shenanigans. He froze mid step on the way to the door when the woman suddenly began to loudly sing in her plastered stupor. His eyes narrowed back towards her, the crease of his brow wrinkling in annoyance at the sound permeating his ear drums.

"Fifteen quaggan on a dead man's chest..." she sang, incredibly off tune and loud. "Something... something... rum."

The tall undead lich visibly winced at the pitch of the obnoxious singing echoing throughout the small room as he just continued to look back and observe.

"... sudden plunge... Sea of Sorrows...", Julianna concluded prematurely with the song, using her hands as though she were a musical composer before she allowed her limbs to limply fall back to the bed with a loud thumb. She hiccuped, then surged forward and sat up all too soon, taking a second to collect her already clouded thoughts from the rush of moving so hastily.

She looked towards where Joko was still standing a few feet away now near the middle of the room and for once, was now taking the turn to awkwardly be standing there with seemingly nothing to do. "I picked up a lot of sea shanties back when I worked in Lion's Arch. I couldn't stand them back then, but now I kind of miss them, you know?"

"How sentimental...", Joko muttered, taking that cue to finally leave before he got twisted up in some other path of conversation.

"What? You're leaving already?" Julianna pouted, words slurring again as her eyebrows shot upward when she saw him turn to leave.

"I have more important matters to attend to with guests that I actually like", he replied, though he knew that last part was an obvious lie.

Julianna put a hand to her heart, faking a sniffle of a cry as she mirrored the action he had done to her so many times before. "You truly wound me", she fake cried out, before falling back against the plush bed again.

"We'll be making our way to Twilight Oasis sometime tomorrow morning and I'm sure you'll have a lot of work on your hands that you'll be needing to deal with", he said with finality upon opening the door. "I imagine your indulgence tonight isn't going to be nearly as fun when you wake up."

She hardly even registered what the last thing the undead ruler had said as she laid there staring up at the marbled ceiling above. Her brain fell into a deep, near coma-like sleep second her head had hit the comforter again.

xxx

The next morning, Julianna Fyre lay awake in the unknown bedroom as she struggled to deal with the pounding headache ringing in her eardrums. She a hand placed to her head, a light blue glow around it as she tried to use her healing magic to help try and alleviate the constant ringing of pain. But unfortunately, such divine magic did little to help the consequences of irresponsibly drinking too much from the night before.

"I wonder if becoming an Awakened would be better than this...", she mumbled aloud as she glared at the ceiling above as it faced her wrath. She couldn't even remember the last time she had drank so heavily, as she figured it must have been some random time when she had too much grog to drink back when she was still living in the harbor-like city of Lion's Arch.

Almost as if on cue, the undead ruler had made his triumphant return to check back on the fate of his favorite debauchee of a mortal. "Is the little tart still alive after the self-indulgent activities from the night before?"

"Barely", she croaked out, raising her head to see the form of Joko walking into the room as he shut the door behind him. A slight bubble of fear began to crawl upwards from where it permanently resided, though it was overshadowed by the fact she was slightly surprised to see he had even bothered to come check up on her.

Her brows knit together upon realization of how out of character that seemed for a person like Palawa Joko. She quickly reasoned there must have been some personal gain for him to have suddenly shown up here, otherwise she knew he would have simply waited for her to come crawling back to him herself.

"I've been thinking about last night's dilemma, and I've graciously decided that I still consider our game even", he began, looking smug as he walked over and looked down at the sickly looking-mortal. He would have thought a good night's rest would have eliminated the dark circles marring her freckled features, but they seemed even worse for wear now. And it certainly wasn't helped by the fact her disheveled curly hair was sticking up in random places.

"What are you talking about?" Julianna groaned, trying to recall her fuzzy memory of anything that had happened the night before as she sat up and moved to stand from the bed. She had lost most of her thoughts around the time when she had still been at the dinner table and had been talking to Utumishi. Anything after that was mostly a blur, which she knew was entirely her own fault given how much strong wine she had to drink.

"I determined through much mulling over, that I won't count the last one since it really was without my consent, and you were also terribly inebriated", he continued, recalling back to the memory from the night before. "Though I won't say it had gone unappreciated either."

The woman remained awkwardly standing there as the cogs to her brain slowly churned back to life through her pounding headache. Suddenly something seemed to have clicked as she pieced all the verbal context clues together. Her face lit up like a beacon at the realization of what she could have potentially done.

"D-did we?" she barely squeaked out, fidgeting with the ring on her finger in a nervous gesture.

"Shared a brief moment together again? Yes, though it unfortunately didn't advance any more than that", Joko said with a suggestive-looking smile on his withered looking face. "You're rather clumsy at it when drunk though. As I must say, the first time you decidedly kissed me had been far more enjoyable."

Julianna buried her still-pounding head in her hands from sheer embarrassment as she couldn't even bear to face the lich right now. The realization that she had done something so brash had her head swimming in dozens of conflicted thoughts.

"How about a deal then, since you obviously seem so bothered by it and I only seek to please the best for my loyal servants", Joko began as he watched her outward display of turmoil.

His own devious plan he had been concocting all morning was already in motion as placed a hand atop her head of bouncy curls and continued. "Why don't you see if you can remedy your mistake and try it again?"

"W-What? What?" she asked, nearly tripping over her words. She removed her hands from her face, looking back up with a shocked and confused expression.

"Unless of course you do want me to count that situation from last night against you, which would put me in the lead of our little game", he said, removing his hand from her hair and tapping the end of his chin thoughtfully. He knew that he would certainly have no problem taking the opportunity to take the charge of their game so soon again. But he wanted to watch the woman squirm and struggle over her proposed choice.

"Son of a Skritt, that isn't fair!" she shot back, crossing her arms across her chest as she stubbornly stood her ground and glared up at the much taller lich. Though it hardly looked intimidating considering she hardly on eye level with him and the pink tint was still staining her face. She mulled the idea around in her pain-induced skull before finally deciding on the ludicrous proposal.

The short woman pouted her lower lip out, motioning to her companion with a single finger as he would need to lean down considerably for her to even reach his own face with her own. The first kiss had been more convenient given he was sitting down, and the second one had been when she was forcibly pulled up by him to his own eye level.

Julianna nearly wanted to scream with frustration when the undead didn't immediately move at first, and he remained at his full height with an all-knowing coy grin on his face. She would have had to get a running start to get anywhere near his face given he was nearly two feet taller then her.

The Scourge remained standing straight a few moments longer as he watched with gratification at how easily bothered his healer became when he didn't immediately adhere to her request. He reveled in how easily it had become to get under her skin when needed.

"You're not funny", she muttered out, a displeased look on her face.

"I only aim to ple-" he began while finally leaning down. But he was quickly interrupted by the sudden feeling of warm lips pressing against his own cold ones.

He watched almost in slow motion as the favorite, little source of entertainment that he had carefully and tightly coiled around his finger, had willingly come to him again for some hidden primal desire. It certainly hadn't been the final desired outcome of his manipulation, but it was definitely an added bonus if anything else. His clawed hands almost instinctively moved down to rest upon the small outline of her hips, his thumbs threatening to dig into the soft flesh below. The experience was a reminder of just how terribly fragile a mortal life still was.

Even if said mortal was obnoxiously stubborn towards him.

Meanwhile on Julianna's side of things, she was left unsure what to do with her hands as she was too preoccupied with her mouth. She moved her limbs to rest atop his tar stained forearms once he had settled them on her own person, as the feeling of the viscous material was adhering to her own palms.

Joko had allowed her to lead a short while longer, as he absorbed the entirety of the all-too familiar experience again. It had been incredibly similar to the first, although it was considerably better this time around seeing how his companion was less shy about the matter and was being far more assertive than before. He knew even from their first experience way back when that this likely hadn't been the ornery's woman first rodeo with this type of thing. But he aimed to make sure he would be the only one left responsible to bolstering that experience and see how far he could actually go with it.

Julianna continued molding her lips against his own, quickly getting used to the feeling of the contrast of the leathery-like pair she was still romantically assaulting. His entire person was cold, much like his own awful and twisted personality. But she figured such a thing was one of the many drawbacks when one elongated their life far past what should have been allowed.

The lich was remaining patient given he had plenty of time to become an opportunist though, and he waited to make his move just at the exact and precise moment. Right when he could feel the ones against him slightly move differently to get better access, he pressed back more assertively and deepened the kiss between the two. He could hardly hold back a grin as he could feel the sense of surprise coming from the woman, as she visibly tensed before quickly melding back into a more comfortable state again.

The two continued their stalemate a while longer before one decided to make another bold move.

The egotistical ruler was the one nearly caught off guard for once and was almost sent into a frenzy when she suddenly grabbed hold of the clothed sides of his intricate headdress. She bunched her fists into the cloth for a better grip, and pulled him even closer than what was already possible. His clouded thoughts were momentarily broken from the enthusiastic motion as he hadn't been expecting it from the easily bothered and seemingly naive woman. Her body was temptingly closer now, as he could feel it's warmth rolling off in waves just inches away.

He had half a mind just to immobilize her against the door and continue this game with her right then and there within the bedroom. Having to lean down so considerably was quite awkward for him, and he yearned at the opportunity to move this encounter back to a chair much like the first time.

But he had to suppress such deep urges, as this was neither the time nor place for such a thing and her interruption had granted him that short clarity of mind he obviously needed. If he continued this any further, he knew he wasn't going to be able to stop. Regretfully he pulled himself away, watching the still flustered freckled face just inches away from his own as her own eyes opened back open from their clouded daze.

"As enjoyable as this has been my dear, I unfortunately have to deviate given there are still matters to attend to about the upcoming assault to Twilight Oasis", Joko said, standing back up but reaching down to gently grip the woman's chin as he kept her looking up towards him. The bright red color staining her flushed face and making her resemble to something of a sweet dessert had remained behind, as per usual.

He continued, gaining control of his unsettled sounding voice. "I do take my role as an upcoming ruler quite seriously though, as you probably know well enough by now. However, after this encounter I believe that means it would be my turn in our current shared game."

"You kissed back though", she replied all too quickly, though she bit her lower lip in immediate regret that her words slipped out before she could think twice about their repercussions. Her hangover of a headache was still nearly ringing in her ears, though it had temporarily been forgotten in that brief moment of indulgence.

Joko's grip tightened on the soft flesh of her face, as he narrowed his eyes towards her with a smile. Under other circumstances he would have noted aloud that her mouth was going to get her into trouble one of these days, but it had obliviously already gone and proven just that.

"And? What would you do with that piece of information, _little one_?" he teased, not removing his hold as he kept her right where he wanted. She had somehow managed to catch him off guard once already today, and he planned it wasn't going to happen again for a while. His thumb moved back up trace over a corner of her mouth, still inwardly wishing he could be covering it with his own lips again.

Julianna swallowed, her head still in a tizzy over what she had just done. She stuttered out some incomprehensible words, as she struggled to even think of what to say back now.

"Not even sticking your tongue out at me as per your usual charade?" he teased, removing his hand on her chin as he moved it back up to playfully flick her on the nose. "The tart somehow continues to surprise me."

The healer turned her head to stare at the at the door behind the towering lich instead, deciding she had nothing else to say in the moment unless she wanted to get into anymore trouble. Her head was a whirlwind of emotions still, as she wasn't quite sure what to think of the relationship she had developed with the person responsible for uprooting her entire life. And yet here was was willingly exchanging an intimate moment with him yet again.

She was brought from her thoughts when he moved past her to the door and opened it, standing there as he waited for her to follow suit. She stubbornly remained rooted to the spot, watching him for a short moment as her brain was an utter storm of emotions.

"A copper for your thoughts?" he asked, teasing again.

Julianna was snapped from her troubled state, looking over to where the smug looking undead was inevitably waiting. She quickly stuck her tongue out towards him before quickly passing under his arm and out into the hallway before he could get a chance to retaliate.


	31. Twilight Oasis

**I don't own anything except for my OC.**

xxx

 _"A copper for your thoughts?" he asked, teasing again._

Julianna had hardly gotten outside the door before she nearly ran straight into Grand Vizier Utumishi, who had been standing outside the room and had been patiently awaiting the two to finally exit. She was surprised to see that the slimy leech of an adviser had seemed to have finally learned the hard way through the many visual and verbal threats he had received from his previous interruptions. Even as nosy as he was, she assumed he must have realized that it wasn't a good idea to walk in and interrupt whatever was random occurrences were going on between her the undead ruler.

"My King", he began, not even turning to address the bothersome lout in the hallway as he entirely ignored her presence. "I brought you that... disgusting-looking drink you had requested."

"Ah, excellent", Joko said as he closed the door behind him. He motioned his hands towards the still-frazzled looking woman next to him. "You can give that to the poor, hungover tart."

"What?" she tried asking but was cut from any more asking more questions as the unknown beverage was nearly shoved into her hands. Rather than focusing on what was inside the cup though, she had looked to the adviser's left hand as something had immediately caught her eyes instead. Her headache induced head turned to the side as she tried to get a better look at the dark looking mark once he brought his hand back to his side.

"Utumishi, I just noticed that tattoo... on your palm. Has that always been there?" she asked, raising a brow as she had gotten just a brief glimpse of the charcoal stained line that ran from the tip of his middle finger and appeared to be moving downward on before it entirely disappeared into the long sleeve of his clothing.

"Yes, but it's nothing that concerns you, _lout_ ", he snapped back, none too eager to share any details about his life with the mortal. He turned back to the towering undead next to him, wanting to be rid of the pest as quickly as possible as he placed his hands behind his back to keep them from the prying eyes of the curious pest still trying to sneak a peak.

He continued. "If that was all that you requested, I shall be taking my leave then. The Prince still has an endless amount of questions he wishes to ask me about the upcoming assault to Twilight Oasis. And unfortunately for me, it seemed I missed the conversation where you made sure to instill that all of his questions were directed to me first before he was even allowed to come talk to you."

The obviously guilty lich only chuckled aloud as he remembered he had explicitly made sure he would no longer have anything to do with the pesky nobles anymore. Through some careful strong worded conversation, he had ensured that all of his petty problems regarding them would be tasked to his adviser instead. "That would be quite the conundrum then, wouldn't it? But you're free to leave, Utumishi."

The short, balding man nodded and quickly took his leave as he escaped back down the long hallway so he could return back to his never ending duties.

The healer was now looking down into the contents of the drink in her hands, a grimace on her face as she stared down into the greenish-brown sludge that was presented to her. Her hand moved to try gently shaking the cup side to side, her frown only growing wider when she could see the gelatinous consistency of the unknown substance. She was quite displeased to see that it looked more like gunk than anything else.

"What is this?" she finally braved herself to ask, looking up to the lich still standing right next to her.

"Oh, that?" he echoed back in an innocent tone of voice, a mischievous smirk on his own face. "A meager, but valuable concoction I requested to have made in order to solve your current troubling ailment. I'd wager it's probably an ancient recipe, as I had discovered it long ago in one of the tomes I was once reading about the matters of curse and soul reaping magic."

Julianna stared at the disgusting-looking drink and then looked back up to the curious pair of eyes watching her as a long pause had passed between the two. "You mean to tell me you found this recipe in a book about Necromancy?"

"Quite possibly", he replied nonchalantly as he began walking down the hallway towards the same direction of wherever his adviser had disappeared to. "I do hope I was thinking of the right recipe though, as those dreadful elixirs and poultices all start to blend together in a blur after you've read about a few dozen hundred of them. The sooner you drink that though, the sooner your troubling little headache will be cured."

The healer half-listened to the echoing laughter disappearing down the corridor as she knew that probably was a premonition for what was to come. She brought the cup up towards her nose, smelling what was sitting inside and immediately drawing back when she was met with quite the unpleasant aroma. It smelled of low-tide and rotten fruit, and it was none too surprising given that it smelt about as bad as it had looked.

The woman reached up to pinch her nose together, stubbornly deciding she may as well try the stuff since it could quite possibly have been an actual cure to her irritating headache. She decided anything would have been better at this point as she could hardly even think straight and she knew was going to be incredibly busy in her upcoming role as a field medic once the assault began. She brought the cup to her lips again, as its contents slowly trailed downward towards her waiting mouth.

The sludge hadn't even been in her mouth for more than a second before she was cursing the Scourge's name loudly and spitting it drink out all over the tiled floor. She huffed aloud in frustration, abandoning the drink on a nearby table and lighting her hand in blue healing magic again as she brought it back towards her forehead.

She would have rather suffered the headache than even dare to get a single drop of that 'supposed' medicine of his.

xxx

The events leading up towards the carefully planned attack against Twilight Oasis had been fairly cut and dry, as Palawa Joko had fallen back into a conquering role as he ordered troops around and discussed the upcoming plan of attack just on the outskirts of the town. The problem that he had been faced with for months on end now, was that there had been a constant influx of Sunspears advancing upon his undead convoys as they were making headway into the remodeled city of Palawadan to bring supplies to it. The troubling group of fallen heroes had been preventing those important trade goods from getting to their objective, and it usually resulted in those goods being stolen to bolster their own rebelling side as well. He had long since been figured out that it was the once-mighty Elonian organization that had been the ones responsible for such flagrant crimes against his own Eminence, and it was now a problem that was being dealt with more forcefully and with much needed finality.

The lich had already been sending groups of his Awakened troops to deal with the growing problem as he had been occupied with other more pressing matters; such as his wayward healer that had almost managed to run away from his reign. The growing Sunspear problem had unfortunately gotten to the point though where he finally needed to intervene and bring an unstoppable force, with himself leading it this time around. He assumed it would make a grandiose and fulfilling show of power to those still hiding few about what happened when they tried to rally against him.

He looked around to the battalion of his Awakened soldiers and troops as they were milling about in organized groups and discussing the upcoming plan of action with each other. Save for a lone wayward healer, there had been no other living mortals in the area, and that had been entirely and carefully decisive on his part. Utumishi, his slimy adviser, had somehow weaseled his way out of joining the skirmish as he had instead insisted on staying behind to ensure the safety of the nobles back in Palawadan.

Joko thought back to when he had requested the air-headed aristocrats to meet him back in the Desolation just before this journey. Part of the reasoning for his order to have them come crawling all the way out from across from the sea, was that so they could speak about the Twilight Oasis situation privately within the safe walls of the his Bone Palace. He figured that there were still traitorous eyes and ears in the harbored city, and he couldn't quite trust making any plans of attack when they could be watching or listening at any moment.

The assault was planned to begin as soon once the sun began to set, as it had been decided a nightly raid would be most effective upon the unsuspecting town. There was an unsettling wind that rested upon the area, as those living had barricaded themselves inside their homes the second the Awakened had made their arrival to the city. Even though Joko had figured the Sunspears had been alerted the second they had stepped foot into the harbor, he figured it was only fair to give them a meager and pathetic attempt to rally and try fighting against him.

The lich was looking forward to Awakening their traitorous hides as he went through the destructive wake of the town, as they would soon become the Mordant Crescent to his army and would quickly forget their past heroes as they turned to a new ruler. He was incredibly pleased with himself in the ironic fate those those turned would be fighting against their own organization as they cut down their former brothers and sisters.

The streets would be drowned in Sunspear blood, that much he had promised to himself.

xxx

Once the attack had begun upon the small town, chaos had erupted in every manner and way as Awakened forces advanced through the village without mercy as they sought to demonstrate their undying allegiance for the benefit of their undead ruler.

Julianna had been stationed near the entrance of the town in a makeshift camp so she could set up a stationary clinic as it was evident quite early on that Awakened troops were going to require a source of healing whenever their wounds became too dire to move on with the pressing attack. The temporary camp had hardly been anything special, as it was an abandoned market stall that had canvases of tarp stretched above it. It was grounded with a couple of sturdy wooden pallets, and a few generous barrels of tar had been brought over so those less than dire wounds could quickly be fixed with the provided stained bandages.

Joko had remained behind as well for the time being, as he could see that nothing required his immediate hand. He knew Wurmmarshal Osa Ekolo had taken on the responsibilities as a leading general well enough, and he trusted her enough that she was causing havoc in her wake as she was leading with a specialized group of Awakened. He stood near with his tarnished-looking staff in hand, listening to the rallying cries of his troops in the distance as he could hear the clashing of weapons and the screams of falling enemies.

He was brought away from his thoughts when he heard the mortal woman kneeling down near him immaturely cursed under her breath about something. Opaque blue eyes looked down to try and see what she was doing, but her back was turned to him and whatever she was doing was kept out of sight from him. He clicked his tongue in annoyance, deciding he had gone long enough without bothering his favorite toy again.

"So tell me, did you like the drink I had made for you?" he asked, a glint in his eye as he continued watching her, leaning against his staff more languidly.

Her head snapped back around like a crack of lightning as she shot a less-than pleased looking glare at him after thinking about the concoction she had been given this morning. "You mean the cursed-looking sludge that probably put some kind of necromantic hex on me? No, I can't say that I did", she shot back right as the words came rolling out of her mouth before she could think twice about them.

Joko put a hand up defensively as he couldn't hide the smug looking grin on his weathered-looking face as he shrugged, the tar-stained skulls on his armored shoulders moving up and down with the motion. "Sorry to disappoint, but I didn't lie. It's solution really was exactly what I had said it was. A shame you didn't partake and finish it then."

The healer shook her head, rolling her eyes at the absurdity of it all as she turned back to her own current dilemma. She pushed healing magic into her hands again, frowning when she could feel how its pool of energy was already beginning to feel drained. So far, she had only healed a few incredibly troubling looking wounds as most of her other Awakened patient's problems had been solved with the temporary wrapping of tar soaked bandages. But the energy depletion was a cause for immediate concern, as even when she had an immense amount of work back at the Bone Palace, never before had her magic felt as quickly crippled as it currently was. She had assumed from her own medical diagnosis that it was the drawback from all of the physical exertion and emotional strain that had been put into since her arrival to Elona.

She was interrupted from her thoughts when she could suddenly feel a swell of strong magic shoot through her arm, and her other hand reflexively reached down to grab at it.

"Doylak spit... there are other ways to get my attention, you know", she said aloud to the needy company still standing right behind her, as she knew they were the only person that could be at fault for the sudden uncomfortable feeling in her arm. She moved back up to stand, still holding her limb as she tried ignoring the feeling of the scarab underneath her skin as it had been enticed to move around from the swell of magic from its master.

"Oh?" Joko asked, raising a high brow as he watched the obviously peeved woman come to stand right before him. Her display of attempted intimidation was always incredibly amusing given the lack of height she had on him. "You mean like drinking a copious amount of alcohol and getting yourself so inebriated that I have to come save you from making yourself any more of a bumbling fool?"

The guilty woman filled her cheeks with air as she narrowed her dark eyes even more towards the much taller person in front of her. The recent memory had still been fresh on her mind, as the headache that had followed from her drunken escapade had only finally retreated after it had been plaguing her nearly the entire day. And it seemed now that Joko hadn't chosen to have forgotten about it so soon either.

She had opened her mouth to try and say something else but the undead ruler interrupted.

"Tell me, you haven't been thinking about trying to run away again, have you?" Joko asked more teasingly now, looking down to see she hadn't relinquished the near-death grip on her arm still. He knew already that her bandaging had been an obvious mask to hide what lay underneath, and it was clearly evident that she hadn't wanted to constantly see the reminder that her chances of actually leaving were now entirely depleted because of his own carefully planned doing.

"I would find that to be a little more difficult considering that 'oh so special gift' you bestowed me", she muttered out, her grip slowly releasing the vice like grip she had on her limb as she thought back to those traumatic experiences of what had happened the last time she had almost escaped. "Why do you ask? Would the great, Eternal Monarch of All actually be upset if I suddenly left?"

"Maybe, though probably not", he gravely replied with a bored sounding tone as he tapped a finger to his chin. "Who else is supposed to keep me entertained though? Utumishi? Ekolo? Bah, I may actually have to go through with my idea to create an amusement parlor."

Julianna half-listened to what the lich was talking about as he began rambling off about the specifications for what his supposed amusement parlor was going to entail. Her ears had instead honed in on the distant sound of yet another horrified scream that was suddenly cut off prematurely. Her memories flashed back to the all-too familiar sounds of when she had first arrived to Elona. In an ironic twist of fate, she had once been on the Sunspear side as she had been dragged along with Koss Dejarin and Lonai as a volunteer to the attempt a foolish assassination of a particular undead monarch.

She looked up and mindlessly watched him still ranting off about some matter she wasn't interested in about hearing as she continued thinking about her current living nightmare. It was even worse off than before knowing that now she had developed some sort of corrupted relationship with the ruler, even thought he had been the one entirely responsible for everything that had happened to uproot her entire life and change it for better or worse.

"Or perhaps I could just scrap that entire idea and instead convert the entirety of it into a 'fun dungeon'? Wouldn't that be nice?" Joko asked, trailing off from discussing the importance of one of his many upcoming, planned projects as he saw his healer was no longer paying any attention to him.

"A... 'fun dungeon'?" she echoed back, mouth turning to the side as she listened to the last part of what he had said. "What would be the point of-"

An Awakened archer came running up from the main road as his delivered news was urgent. He was holding onto the remnants of his arm, as it was barely holding on from sinewy strings of decaying muscle.

"My King, we've found High Priestess Amala and have her corned near the corner of the town", he began looking to his leader while he tried moving his arm back into place but it was a wasted effort. "But she's causing absolute hell on our Awakened troops and downing them left and right. I'm not sure how much longer we can hold out against her, she's near unstoppable."

"And what of Wurmmarshal Ekolo?" Joko asked, his previously light-hearted disposition turning back into the more serious formality of a military leader.

"She's fallen back and is holding a front near the middle of the town with our forces right now" he answered.

"Then it would seem I am finally needed on the front lines of this assault as we finish putting down these Sunspear dogs", the lich answered darkly, nodding towards his loyal underling. "You can have the healer tend to your injury in the meantime. That fool of a Priestess is going to regret the day she ever began looking up to her false gods."

Said healer had already been observing the injury from afar as her keen eyes watched the undead scout looking disconcertingly down to his injury. She frowned when she could see the bone was no longer even connected to its jointed socket near the middle of his arm anymore. She figured that if the Awakened archer hadn't been holding onto it, then gravity and the dead weight of it would have already snapped those few hanging tendrils keeping it barely attached anymore.

"Oh, and Julianna?" Joko asked, looking back to the stubborn, fluffy haired tart of a person. "I'm still expecting you to make a move on your end of our game."

The woman's freckled face turned a deep shade of pink in a matter of just mere seconds. It seemed not only had the lich not forgotten about her drunken shenanigans, but he also hadn't forgotten about the intimate event that had transpired the morning after. She stuttered on her words as she tried to think of a clever comeback, but she was drawing a blank and matters were only made worse when Joko suddenly moved his hand to flick the end of her nose before decidedly taking his leave.

She threw her hands up in the air in defeat once he was gone and huffed a breath of hot air through her nose as she stubbornly decided to quickly jump into into the awaiting work of the hanging limb from her new patient. After not being able to come back with a response to his tease, she was set on needing to focus her attention elsewhere while she kept herself occupied from thinking about the undead ruler's all-knowing grin anymore.


	32. A Helping Hand

**I don't own anything except for my OC.**

xxx

 _"Oh, and Julianna?" Joko asked, looking back to the stubborn, fluffy haired tart of a person. "I'm still expecting you to make a move on your end of our game."_

Julianna quickly finished up with her current task of healing another Awakened patient near the makeshift camp situated near the front of the town. The length of her entire forearms were now darkly stained from having to mend such deep lacerations and other bodily injuries as countless Awakened had come to her for quick healing before they went straight back into the assault upon the small Sunspear town. She grimaced at the dried blood and tar caking her arms as she had rolled up the sleeves of her long tattered coat in an attempt to keep them away. As awful as the living conditions had been back at the Bone Palace, she actually found herself yearning to return to the measly wooden bucket and bar of soap that was waiting for her back in the depressing-looking room she had come to call her own.

"What I would give for a scrubbing stone and some nice oils to use with an actual bathtub as well...", she thought to herself, thinking back to her lack of any decent product. She couldn't even remember the last time she hadn't smelled of sulfur and death, as she was quite sure her pores were probably permanently clogged with the stench by now. Being as close to Joko as she had been probably hadn't helped in her favor either.

She spoke aloud to the seated patient before her. "Well, you no longer look like a drake's breakfast anymore", Julianna said towards the seated undead as she watched the much taller soldier stand back up to his full height which entirely dwarfed her own small size. The doctor sat back and observed as he jumped from foot to foot to test the effectiveness of his healed wounds. One of the rebels had landed a direct hit as their sword had slashed across the back of the undead's leathery heel, which directly sliced his achilles tendon in half.

The Awakened Soldier reached down, picking up his forgotten blade before letting it rest atop his armored shoulder comfortably. "The gesture is appreciated, little one."

Julianna filled her cheeks with air upon hearing the familiar nickname as she narrowed her eyes the second that name had rolled off the Awakened's tongue. She figured it must have been Joko himself getting back at her from calling him a 'grumpy bag of bones', as he was likely now telling his own soldiers in discretion to use the nickname as well.

"Doylak spit...", she muttered, deciding to ignore the pet name for now as she moved to stand back up as well. "And don't mention it. After all, it's what my oh-so, supposed job title here is anyway."

The soldier nodded briefly towards his irritated-sounding doctor and quickly turned to leave, heading back in the direction to the middle of the ceiling where the on-going battle was now progressing.

The curly haired woman watched the Awakened until he was entirely out of sight as he disappeared into a street some furthered distance away towards the sounds of battle. She sighed loudly, running a dirtied hand through her tussles of hair, no longer caring about the state of her already disheveled looking appearance. She figured she was beyond saving at this point anyway, as her face probably didn't look too much better considering the dark circles that were still heavily sitting underneath her eyes.

" _At least I'm not dealing with a hungover-induced headache anymore. Or the grumpy bag of bones himself..._ ", she thought to herself as she clicked her tongue and remembered back to the poor choices she had made the night before.

Her thoughts were broken when the familiar feeling of magic, not of her own, was suddenly swelling through her arm and causing it to feel like every single nerve throughout it was being pinned down with an ice-like needle.

"Skale toes! Curse that lich to the Mists and back as I obviously must have spoken too soon...", she lowly muttered through a glare as she stared at her bandaged limb which she had tried to keep hidden for her own obvious and personal reasons. Because she had the magic infused scarab living underneath her forearm, it meant that it's owner had free reign of doing a quick check-up on her whenever he needed. It had been Joko's cruel and macabre way of ensuring that she wouldn't be able to flee from his reign, as he could hone in on her current location at any time. He likely was checking in on her again to ensure she hadn't yet attempted to escape from Twilight Oasis, given the opportunity was definitely there.

She frowned, standing there underneath the canvassed tarp and waiting for the feeling to pass as she thought about the other potential implications about her current flesh-infused reminder, rather than thinking of making another run for freedom.

Back when she had first received the insect, she had asked Joko about removing it on her own accord and what those consequences would have been had she done it. The Scourge had been quick to explain that he would know the second the scarab was expunged from her flesh, and there would be ramifications in store if she were to foolishly test that boundary.

Her frown remained, as she stood there staring at her outstretched hand until the uncomfortable feeling had finally gone away as the scarab living within her seemed to have settled. Her fingers closed in on each other into a tight fist once it had passed. But another problem passed through her mind, as she instead pushed healing magic down into her hand, her brows knitting together when she could immediately feel the struggled pull of bringing the own energy out.

" _Definitely not good..._ ", Julianna thought to herself, as she was aware her energy storage was on the near cusp of complete depletion now. A few more large spells and she would be rendered exhausted and entirely defenseless. It had been a problem already present even before she had begun her work of healing injured Awakened troops in this current assault, but it only been made worse since then.

"Excuse me, you over there!", a voice suddenly whispered loudly from somewhere close. "You're a healer, yes?"

Julianna's head snapped back up, taking a moment to find the location of the voice as it hadn't sounded like the familiarity of a scratchy undead one. This one had sounded living, and very much mortal which was immediately marked as unusual given this current tide of battle of undead versus living. Her dark eyes darted around wildly from before they shortly met the pair of another that was peeking out between an alley of two houses on the opposite side of the street.

The other person was barely visible from behind the enclosed tight space, as he beckoned towards the stranger with a hurried wave.

The healer remained un-moving as she was met with a cause of uncertainty, as she had thought the Awakened forces were wrecking and maiming everything in their wake which would have meant nothing was left alive. And yet here was a random stranger that had either been spared, or had been lucky enough to have slipped by without notice of the Awakened brutes. But even from the furthered distance, Julianna could see the fear in the man's face. It was clear as day that the person must have been scared out of their mind and likely desperate for help, hence them asking about her profession.

Even though this was technically the enemy given her position, her bleeding heart couldn't blame them, given the blanket of death Palawa Joko was placing atop their village.

"You shouldn't be here, or even talking to me for that matter" she began, guilt already forming as she was essentially talking to the opposite faction. Associating with the loosing side would have been regarded as immediate treason, and she wasn't sure she wanted to face the wrath of Joko if he found out because she knew it wasn't going to bode well.

"Please, it's my oldest brother", the man began, slightly moving out from behind the wall when he saw her uncertainty. "Dwayna spared us, as High Priestess Amala stepped in and allowed us time to get away from those undead assailants. But my brother was still hurt very badly in our attempt to get away, and we can't risk leaving without tending to his wound first."

Julianna still didn't answer and remained awkwardly standing within the middle of the small camp, as part of her was also very concerned that this was could be a trap of some kind. She figured the man must have known she was working for the Awakened, but even still, she could hear nothing but desperate intentions behind his plea for help.

A long sigh escaped through her mouth as she finalized her choice, before she slowly nodded towards the man in the alleyway. The kind-hearted woman wasn't going to deny his need for support, even if it somehow got her into a mess of trouble.

The man seemed nearly on the verge of overjoyed tears when he saw the woman uncertainly approach. He clapped his hands excitedly together, praising the name of Dwayna over and over again. "You have no idea how much this means to me. You're our last ray of light in this living nightmare. Quickly, please follow me."

"Wait, I just want to know. How did you know I was a healer?" Julianna asked, beginning to follow after the stranger as she looked back to the now vacant makeshift camp she had been occupying. She hoped there wouldn't be any injured Awakened making their way there anytime soon, as they would likely be keen that something odd was going on given her sudden absence of leave. However, she was counting on the hope that they would simply excuse her vacancy as nothing strange, and would merely tend to their own wounds with the tar stained rags she already had prepped.

"I was watching you heal that Awakened soldier's foot for a little bit of time...", the man said sheepishly in a nervous tone, straining his neck around to talk to the woman as they scuttled through between buildings. He looked back forward, frantically looking around in search of any potential Awakened scouts that were still stalking around the area before crossing into another street. "I had to be certain of your abilities. Honestly I must say, I wasn't expecting a mortal like yourself to be working for the likes of a monster like Palawa Joko."

"Well, I wasn't exactly given the choice to the title...", she replied in a dead-pan tone of voice, following closely behind as the duo quickly crossed across the empty street and moved towards the front door of a house.

"I won't pry any further then, as the Six work in mysterious ways", the man said as he moved to unlock the door. "Quickly then, he's inside on the couch and I don't know how much longer he is going to last in the state he's in."

Julianna nodded, and moved inside the building as he opened the door and closed it behind him with a click. The stuffy-smelling house was quite small, as the front room had been both an enclosed living room space that had a kitchen situated near the farthest back part on the first floor. There was a set of stairs near the left, which likely led into the bedrooms upstairs. It was sparsely decorated, as varying farmhand tools lined the many walls which were visual cues about the homeowner's profession of sorts.

The healer walked in and had immediately caught sight of the injured man laying out on the couch. She quickly crossed the floor and knelt down towards the injured brother laying out on the couch, her medical disposition already setting back in as she could see that the cloth on his upper forearm was stained heavily with a deep red color. Her filthy stained trench coat was shrugged off, as she carelessly threw it to the wooden floor behind her.

Her hands carefully went to remove the man's own, as he had been keeping his own atop the injured area on his arm. She could physically feel how weak he was from how easily it had been for her to pry it away, and she winched she was able to get a better look at his wound.

He had been holding his hand there for obvious reason, as blood began pooling out once the pressure had been removed and she pushed her own hands back the open incision to replace the force again.

"We can't risk taking him on the awaiting cart out back when he has an injury like that", the concerned-looking brother near the door continued as he moved to stand behind the healer and watched. "None of us here are doctors obviously, but we figured he would die from blood loss in minutes the second we tried to move him around too much."

Julianna merely nodded as his speculation her been entirely correct. From a quick assessment, she could see the man's darkened face was almost eerily pale, and that meant blood loss had been a problem for a while now. Repressed memories came up from deep within as they were replaying back to how Koss had nearly died from a similar injury right before Joko had tracked the both of them down to the cave they had temporarily hid themselves away within. On that fateful day, the Sunspear warrior had been turned into an Awakened soldier to do the lich's bidding, while she had been left alive to serve him in a much different way.

She shook her head, trying to rid herself from the past nightmare as they threatened to spill forth from the depths of repressed memories. Her hands were warmed with healing magic, and she pressed them into the open cut as she concentrated the measly amount of exhausted magic still left over.

The woman spoke up again with a serious tone as she dressed the issue aloud. "The cut is deep, and judging by how quickly the blood is escaping, likely means that muscle and possibly both veins of the major artery have been severed."

The older brother didn't say anything as he remained standing behind and trembling. His worried eyes were aglow with fascination as he could see his brother's flesh begin to mend before his very eyes. "But... y-you can... can heal him, right?"

"Yes, I think so", Julianna answered, focusing on her magic as the energy pooled forth from her hands into the awaiting wound below them. "It'll take me a little while though because I'm on my last thresholds of energy, but he should heal up easily enough."

A new voice suddenly came from the stairs. "What in Elona is she doing in here?" the feminine voice screeched as a third person suddenly came thundering down from the stairs and into the room. They were dressed in heavy armor, and looked fit to fight as a scabbard hung at their waist.

"Almasi!" the brother said, eyes widening to see his youngest sibling storming into the room like hellfire. She looked beyond angry to have seen the unexpected guest in their living room, as her heavy armored boots sounded like thunder as she crossed the space.

"Naveem, you have less than five seconds to explain yourself before I cut down this traitor without second thought", Almasi sneered, brandishing the sword at her hip as she stomped towards the three. She wasn't about to let some stranger walk into their home without some hard pressuring questions.

"Look, she may be on the other side of this loosing battle, but she's willing to help us", Naveem said as he moved to put himself between the wayward healer and his sibling. He held his arms out as a physical, protective barrier to prevent the situation from becoming worse. "Obviously, I wouldn't have called her here if I didn't think she could be of help to us. But we're desperate, and Dwayna gifted us with a second chance at escape. We simply can't leave here with all of our lives without her help first."

Almasi fought against going against her brother's word for just a few more moments, before she let out a defeated growl. She brandished her weapon again within the scabbard sitting atop her hip, crossing her arms as she moved to lean against the stairwell.

"Fine, but that doesn't mean I am any more pleased with this situation", the sister said with a hated sneer, closely observing the scene from afar as she kept a readied hand atop her blade's hilt. She hardly reacted when the other woman stuck her tongue out towards her. "I won't allow our sister's sacrifice to be in vain though. If I see even a hint that this traitor is going to turn on her word, I will cut her down myself."

"Wait, you mentioned High Priestess Amala before. She's your sister?" Julianna echoed, after calming herself down from the near-explosive confrontation as she thought back to what the brother had briefly mentioned on the walk over here.

"Yes, we know she's already been causing quite a bit of problems for the Awakened and Joko", Naveem said as he turned around to face the healer again. "But unfortunately for them, she isn't going down without a fight and she'll take more than a handful of those walking cadavers down along with her."

"We can only hope so", Almasi said, joining the conversation again from across the room. "I'll be waiting for her to return with that horrible lich's head."

Julianna swallowed and bit down on her tongue to prevent herself from saying anything more, and turned back to her patient on the couch.

" _Small victories..._ ", she thought to herself, remembering back to all of the previous times when she had given herself such reminders in bleak situations.

The sentimental fool of a woman was counting on being able to timely finish the work of healing her mortal patient without further conflict, and quickly get back to her Awakened ones at the camp before she got into any sort of trouble.


	33. When Things Go Wrong

**I don't own anything except for my OC.**

 **xxx**

 _The sentimental fool of a woman was counting on being able to timely finish the work of healing her current mortal patient without further conflict, and quickly get back to her Awakened ones at the camp before she got into any sort of trouble._

Naveem had left the house not long after acquiring the healer's help, as his worried state was not getting any better from staying in the room to just sit back and observe his injured brother on the sidelines. He excused himself instead to go outside into the night-ridden city while making sure to ensure to the other occupants that he would remain hidden. The anxious-looking man would rather have busied the time by watching the roads for any Awakened coming back through while he kept an attentive ear open.

Almasi meanwhile had remained standing against the wall of the stairwell inside the house, glowering in her own sour mood as she watched the traitorous mortal woman work on tending to her older brother's mangled-looking arm as he was sprawled across the couch. She was still inwardly seething over the fact that a person would willingly work for that monster of a lich, as evidenced by the fact that the healer was clearly not turned into an Awakened husk of a corpse.

A loud, hot breath of air escaped through her nose for what had probably been the fourth time within just the past ten minutes. Her dark, shoulder length braided head turned curiously to the side when a curious thing on the floor suddenly caught her eyes, as she had just taken notice of its semi-hidden presence. The tall, armor clad woman crossed the short threshold of the room as her boots echoed loudly against the creaky woodwork of the floor. She walked over to where the discarded trench-coat was still lying before she knelt down to pull out a ratty-looking doll that was barely peeking out from the collapsed pile of worn leather.

"Where did you get this?..." she breathed out in disbelief as she stared at the button-eyed object, holding back a lump in her throat as she remained balancing on the ball of her heels. She wouldn't have allowed her emotions to easily show through, as she knew she was tougher than this.

Julianna craned her neck around as she was still working on healing her patient as her arms were enveloped with a flickering blue light. A lone, confused looking eyebrow rose high she wasn't sure what was being referred to until she looked back to see. A pang of uncertainty hit her chest when she saw the familiar doll now in the sister's hands.

"I asked you a question", the Sunspear woman now sneered with a dangerous sounding tone, her hand tightly grasping the toy within her hand.

"I-I had found it...", the fluffy haired person stammered back, her freckled face now turning to something of concern. This certainly hadn't been the reaction she had been expecting. Through some glimmer of hope she was hoping she could eventually find its owner, through she had nearly forgotten about the thing as she had been preoccupied with more pressing and drunken matters instead. "I had stumbled upon it back when we arrived into Palawadan-"

"You mean Kamadan", Almasi shot back almost immediately, her dark eyes filled with fury. "I will never call that city its new name for as long as I live. How dare that lich think he can just take its name after centuries of bountiful history. Do you know how many Sunspear heroes claimed that place as their home?"

Julianna remained stubbornly quiet and didn't answer the second question this time around, as both of them were well aware of the answer. She flinched when the woman across from her suddenly rose up again to her full height.

"Do you know what this even means to me?" she continued, shaking the doll towards the other naive woman. "How dare your filthy, traitorous hands even dare to touch this."

"Does it belong to you? Or someone you know?" the healer tried again in an attempt to deescalate the situation, her hands twitching when she felt the steady concentration of magic subsiding as she was struggling to deal with this new problem. She was nearly done with healing the injured man's lacerated arm, as she was now mostly concentrating on just mending skin and muscle back together again.

"Why would it matter to you?" the proud Sunspear retorted back with a rising hateful tone in her voice. "You took this when it didn't need to have fallen into in your faithless hands."

Before any more explosive and verbal spillage could occur between the two opposing parties, they were interrupted by the back door of the house suddenly slamming open with vigor. Naveem had made a hasty return, as he bolted into the room from the doorway.

A terrified look was plastered on his sweaty face as he spoke quickly and quietly to the tense-looking duo. "The Awakened soldiers are making rounds back down our street again. We need to leave. Now."

Julianna suddenly looked quite concerned then as well as her brows crossed with worry. She couldn't predict what would happen if any of the Awakened came upon her while she was helping the enemy, as she easily figured it wasn't going to be any sort of good for her livelihood.

No amount of discussion or explanation about her bleeding heart would have saved her at this point from the volatile wrath from the Scourge himself.

She looked back down at her patient, deeming him to be in decent enough condition already. Although he still hadn't woken back up yet, his breathing was steady and he was no longer bleeding, as she had long-since taken care of the most concerning parts of it. The doctor moved to stand but was halted by the sound of a sword being brandished and pointed straight towards her, keeping her rooted on the floor from moving anywhere else.

"Then it stands to reason I can now eliminate the pest within our home", Almasi began, her poised weapon not moving a single inch away from its target as it hovered right in front of their face.

Naveem turned towards his sister, almost in disbelief for the his sibling's brash and sudden actions. His forehead was creased with confusion he looked to his sister, and then back to the open door. "On the side of Palawa Joko or not, this healer has done nothing but help us in this incredibly troubled time. We need to leave, the Doylak is out back and-"

"Because having helped us or not", the warrior quickly interrupted with a heavy glare. "She's on the side of that monster that unwillingly brought so many of our Sunspear brothers and sisters back to life to eternally serve his horrendous cause. I think it's only fair I take her life in their honor."

"Almasi, you aren't thinking reasonably. That isn't the Sunspear way, and you know that", Naveen countered, desperation sounding in his voice. He knew that if his sister began an assault upon the helpful stranger he had recruited, then it was going to cause a lot of noise and immediate problems for them given he had seen the Awakened patrols slowly making their way back through the streets as they swept the area one last time for any potential stragglers.

The anxious-looking brother also knew that the noise from the Doylak led cart was going to be alerting enough as was, and there wouldn't be any time for him to come back and try to grab his irrationally-led sister as well. He had a choice to make then, and that was to either save two of them or risk loosing all of them because of one irresponsible action.

His choice was prematurely made for him in just a short second, as he watched in fleeting horror as his sibling drew her arm back and slashed at the space of where the acquired help was still sitting.

Julianna had hardly darted out of the way in time as she rolled to the left and quickly got back to her feet again. Almost immediately, her teachings from Troopmasrhal Olori Ogun had set in as his constant belittling orders about the severity of working amidst a fight were finally feeling useful as they echoed over and over again in her brain. Rather than immediately fall into a state of panic and shock like she had during those unfortunate times before, she moved to the better part of her fight-or-flight instincts as they were now screaming at her to do the latter of the two.

Her trench-coat was left abandoned on the floor, as she fled towards the door and into the lifeless town once more.

It seemed almost as though the assailing Sunspear supporter was grasping straws at this point, as she was looking for anything to use as an excuse to become volatile as an excuse to expedite her anger.

Julianna darted into the open street, wildly turning around as she tried to piece together from which direction they had originally come from on the way to the house. She was disoriented from the unfamiliarity, as her goal was to get back to the camp in hopes some random Awakened or two had shuffled their way back there already and could be of some help to her. Dark encircled eyes wildly looked around for any sign of the reanimated undead patrol that Naveem had mentioned seeing, but they were nowhere to be seen as not even the sounds of a distant slaughter could be heard anymore. Her hands moved to cup around her mouth as she was about to yell out, but the action was interrupted when she could hear the heavy footfall coming up right behind her.

She had just barely side stepped backwards and out of the way in time as the assaulting sword had still managed to catch her side. A pained scream escaped her mouth, and her hand flew to the area as she had felt an immediate burning erupt from the area given the blade easily sliced through cloth and the looser area of skin and muscle.

"Imp gall... Not good..." she muttered shakily as medical expertise was telling her to put pressure on the now bleeding wound. She could feel warm blood begin to seep through her fingers, as she instantly knew the cut was possibly worse than she originally thought.

"You know, I was hoping for more of an honorable fight", Almasi boasted with open arms, looking down to her Sunspear sword as she could see the red coloring staining its surface as the weapon had clearly hit its intended mark. She confidentially and slowly stalked towards her enemy since it was obvious to her that the other shorter woman was hardly much of a fighter and it wouldn't have taken much more to decimate her traitorous life once and for all.

The now-injured healer said nothing still, swallowing as she sent resentful looks to her attacker while she stubbornly held her ground in the middle of the dirt covered road.

"Well, no matter", Almasi woman continued with a shrug of her shoulders as she stopped to stand just before her prey. "Perhaps I cannot take that monstrous lichʼs head, but instead it may be just as gratifying to take your pathetic one instead."

Julianna couldn't have reacted fast enough to pull a counter spell when her assailant leaped towards her with an angry battle cry. She lifted both her undefended forearms up in front of her face to block the sword as a meager but last second resort. Another pained shriek erupted from her throat from the burning feeling of the blade slicing through the lousy shield of skin and muscle she had tried putting up as a pitiful defense. Without proper armor, her undefended person was at the mercy of an expertly sharpened blade.

When she noticed her attacker raise her arm to slice back down again, the healer retaliated more offensively now as she poured what little magic she had left into her hands, placing her palms outward while sending a knock back spell directly towards Almasi.

The armor clad warrior had looked momentarily stunned, as she was sent backward a few good feet back after not having predicted her prey wasn't going to fight back. A billow of dust rose up from the dirt covered street, as the hardened Sunspear soldier had managed to keep her armored feet rooted into the ground though, as she hardly lost her footing from the offensive retaliation.

The much, less-than battle hardened healer took the moment to look down at her new injury, both worry and dread beginning to knot within her stomach at the sight of which arm had been lacerated. Her immediate worry that it was right across the area she knew the scarab scout beetle was hidden, and it was very likely the poor insect had been caught in the unavoidable crossfire. She pushed a pulse of healing magic into the limb, hoping to at least stop the bleeding in the case the radial artery had been sliced.

However, the action had caused her to suddenly kneel over as it felt as though she had just been kicked into the chest.

She could now begin to feel herself spiraling into a state of panic atop the worry and dread as she now knew that her energy storage was now dangerously low, if not entirely depleted as it was causing a physical effect on her body as she strained to bring forth any more magic. She tried to keep one hand of pressure still placed atop her hip with the other moved to encompass her now mangled mess of an arm. The past teachings from Troopmarshal Ogun were now wearing off as they were overridden with fear, and she was struggling to deal with the situation as a thousand thoughts were running through her head.

" _My bleeding heart is actually going to be responsible for my death_ ", Julianna thought grimly as she thought back to the day when she had first arrived to Elona because of an all too familiar similar situation that had landed her within her current title to Palawa Joko's Awakened army. " _What a terrible twist for irony..._ "

"I'll kill you right here and now, you Awakened zealot!" Almasi cried out with finality as she saw her prey had nothing else to counter-attack back with. She raised her weapon above her head one last time, as she prepared herself to strike the final blow.

The tart of a woman then squeezed her eyes shut, as she awaited the final blow to finally end of her life right then and there in the middle of the street. She would be sharing the death with the many innocent men and woman in this village that had been just recently slain and brought back to un-life by the Awakened forces without any remorse or second thought.

If anything else given what she had endured so far, this would have been quite the fitting death for her.


	34. A Bleeding Heart

**I don't own anything except for my OC.**

 **xxx**

 _If anything else, than perhaps this would have been a fitting death for her._

There was a uncomfortably long moment that passed between the healer and the Sunspear warrior.

It seemed all the noise around Julianna had been momentarily deafened, as she could only hear the loud thrumming of her heartbeat sounding loudly in her ears. She had assumed the blade's assault to end her life had been fleetingly quick and clean, as there wasn't any pain or a messy aftermath to deal with. Only seconds had actually gone by though before she felt something warm and wet splatter her face and torso, and it seemed to have brought her back to reality again.

The tensed woman visibly flinched when a strained, shrill cry came from right in front of her. Her eyes snapped back open, wondering what could have happened in the last few seconds before Grenth was allowed to have finally taken her pathetic hide to the Underworld. She had to think twice about whether the scream actually had been from her as she then realized that it had not actually been her own voice, but from another person entirely.

She regretted opening her eyes so soon again, given the scene in front of caused her stomach to immediately twist and lurch into nauseous flips. Even as someone that was as experienced as she was within the medical field and had once seen all kinds of morbid and disgusting-looking injuries on previous patients, nothing still could have prepared her to see this.

Almasi had been interrupted in her attack at the very last possible second, as an Awakened Canid had erupted forth from the earth before throwing itself upon the sword-bearing woman. Although she was equipped with heavy armor, it did little to protect herself as the canine-like cadaver was using its dagger-like claws to pin her to the ground and rip through metal and flesh with ease.

Julianna sat upon the dusty ground right across from the pair. Her state was still in complete disbelief as she was frozen in complete and utter fear. Her mouth remained open as she watched how her attacker was being reduced to nothing but red pulp as the Canid continued tearing its claws through the downed woman. Its attack was horribly and ruthlessly relentless, and it didn't appear close to letting up its assault anytime soon even though the shrill screams continued to gain volume.

The healer shut her eyes again and quickly turned away, the image forever staining her mind though as she tried to dismiss what she was witnessing. Even though Almasi's attempted assault upon her life was without good reason, she figured no person deserved the fate she was currently enduring by the frenzied Awakened soldier.

She awkwardly crawled backwards away from the scene, momentarily forgetting about her own dire wounds as she was just trying to get herself further away from the mess and the awful choir of sounds that accompanied it. Almasi's screams of terror were echoing over and over again in her head, as well as the image of her literally being torn apart which accompanied them. Julianna's own suppressed memories from once upon a time were now spilling forward at an inopportune time as well, as they reminded her all too well of the bottled thoughts of when she had failed to heal those Sunspear men and women once upon a time.

Eventually she had unknowingly backed herself into a pair of gilded legs just some ways behind, and her eyes snapped back open and she visibly flinched at the brief yet familiar of cold leathery skin touching her own exposed flesh. Rather than feel relief upon intermediately knowing who it was though, she was instead faced with the all too-familiar pit of fear of which she thought she had gotten over long ago. There was a short choir of ornaments jingling together as the owner brought a clawed hand down and roughly pulled her back up on her feet.

Julianna found it to be quite the hindrance to stand upon her own two legs again since her limbs threatened to buckle and wobble beneath her. She was struggling to even think straight anymore, and it was become increasingly difficult to get a decent breath into her lungs.

"I do hope you have a fathomable excuse as to why you were almost killed by that lowly, Sunspear filth just now", Palawa Joko's familiar voice sounded above. His voice was raspy, and devoid of any emotion other than disappointment right now. "Otherwise, you won't be so lucky to be escaping death so soon."

The frazzled woman had been forced to look at the scene again when she was forcefully pulled up, and she felt her stomach churn in distaste again for what she had witnessed. She was having an incredibly difficult time comprehending that Almasi's body was now staining the sand from where she had once been standing alive and well not a moment ago. Julianna realized she had spent so long with Palawa Joko and his Awakened army now, that she had forgotten just how fragile the mortal life was when attacked so violently. Undead corpses had little left to bleed and as such, it had obviously caused her acclimation to gore to have dwindled.

Joko's beady eyes narrowed, watching his wayward healer obviously going through some sort of mental breakdown as she hadn't even uttered a single, stubborn word or even an explanation back to him. She was frantically playing with the scarab decorated ring on her hand in a poor attempt to calm herself down. His reasoning for ordering her to have remained behind at the makeshift camp was for the very simple reason that it was supposed to have kept her out of trouble.

But it seemed the stubborn Doylak of a person had an awful knack for finding it, even when told otherwise.

His brooding thoughts about the matter were interrupted when he caught sight of the the stark red color against her bandaged arm, which made it quite apparent that she was injured. On the way to the scene, he had felt the surge of magic dissipate as the beetle living with her flesh had been suddenly disappeared and notified him for its lack of life. Originally he had thought the worst which was that it had been willingly removed by its owner, but seeing her arm meant it was now quite obvious as to what had happened. Not only that, but given she could hardly stand without him keeping her in place meant that her physical state was not in the best condition either.

He brought a clawed hand underneath her armpit to keep from upright from falling over before noticing how much she had visibly flinched when he made contact. The lich knew she probably hadn't been this jumpy around him back since their very first fateful encounter with one another. Which of course for the Scourge, meant an immediate cause for concern as he had been carefully breaking down those walls through his own selfish and manipulative needs. Having to start all the way over from square one was not something he would have looked forward to, especially when considering they still had an ongoing and enticing game between the two of them.

Joko moved his other hand down to rest atop the indentation of her hip instead, though he quickly retracted back his hand when he felt a warm liquid immediately stain his hand. He pulled his clawed digit back, examining the palm of his hand as he watched the bright red blood attempt to mix in with the iridescent tar staining his own skin. He sneered audibly, looking back down towards the torn clothes of the woman's left side since it seemed like it was just one thing after another now. Although it was difficult to see because of the pooling blood, there was evidence of where a weapon had deeply permeated the muscle.

"My dear, you do realize you're bleeding right?" he sarcastically asked with only the barest hint of concern in his tone, as he moved his blood stained hand up to nearly shove it in her face for her to see. "You're a specialist with the whole... healing wounds kind of thing. So I'm quite baffled as to why you haven't resolved this little personal problem of yours."

A new voice nearby had suddenly spoke up as they had been watching the scene with a curious pair of eyes. "My King, shall I dispose of this one myself for you?"

The lich had turned towards the recently turned Amala with a look of irritation on his sunken-looking face. "No, my new Executioner. I wish no harm upon the little tart's head. For once..."

The ex-Sunspear raised a brow to her new leader's comment, but nodded in affirmation at the strange request.

The undead ruler motioned his hand towards the small battalion of soldiers that were on standby as they also watched the scene with feigned interest. "Check the rest of the houses for any more Sunspear filth", he ordered. "Do with them to the same extent as the newest traitor we just happened upon."

Joko watched some of the soldiers begin to saunter off without question before he began speaking to the person right in front of him again. "So tell me, are you going to indulge and share about what happened?" he continued again once he knew his soldiers were far enough way to busy themselves with something more practical. "Your self-delusion about the situation at hand is a cause of concern for your pathetically fragile mortal life."

"Imp gall... I... I ran out of magic...", Julianna finally muttered out, deciding through hazed thoughts to dismiss the entire truthful explanation as to what had finally caused her to be in such an exhaustive state prior to trying to defend herself from Almasi. She certainly didn't want to lie to the terrifying and unpredictable lich, but she felt she had no choice in the matter as her option of the truth wasn't going to put her in the best place.

"Obviously, but that still doesn't explain how you went from the camp to the middle of the street a couple blocks away", Joko continued again, not quite sure what to make of the woman's comment yet. Her face looked even more exhausted than before, and it was difficult to tell of any sort of verbal expression cue.

"I heard cries for help and... I went to see if I could be of any aid", she began, stubbornly deciding to at least be partially honest. "But then on the way, I was ambushed by the rogue Sunspear woman you saw attacking me. It was... incredibly foolish and naive of me. I should have known better..."

Palawa Joko said nothing still, glaring daggers down at the burdensome woman as he debated what to do with her near worthless hide. He looked back up towards the scene of the attack, watching as the Awakened Canid had finally finished its job and was now stalking its way back towards one of the houses, its claws dripping rivulets of fresh blood in its trail.

He fought with himself on what to do in that moment. Part of him wanted to send the Canid upon the familiar woman as well and be rid of her once and for all, but another larger part of him wished just to move past the entire dilemma and move on with the final sweep of the town. Had she been with a small group of Awakened as he had initially instructed, none of this would have happened.

"You have to understand-" she began when she could see the hesitation from the terrifying being in front of her. She began rambling off in some long-winded string of words that hardly made any sense as they blurred together into incomprehensible muttering.

The lich finally rolled his eyes and shook his head, the movement causing the tarnished gold on his headdress to make noise with the action. Fortunately for the wayward healer, she had become far closer to him than what he ever would have expected and he almost despised himself for it. He moved his arms down to grab onto the much smaller woman as he pulled her into an embrace and began patting the top of her hair in an attempt to calm her shot nerves. The undead ruler figured the matter of her wounds could be healed momentarily once she was better calmed down and had stopped spouting off nonsense that made her sound like a deranged Harpy.

Julianna remained standing there, now silenced in Joko's hold as he was continuing to pet her and and openly talk about how squishy and defenseless mortal lives were. She hadn't yet moved to mirror his own action, as her thoughts had still been plagued with the image of where Almasi had previously just been standing very much alive and well only minutes ago just before she met her gruesome end.

She was also still coming to terms of how close she had actually been to death, had the Scourge not intervened when he did.

Dark eyes finally blinked after a few moments longer in the embrace, as they caught sight of something familiar laying on the ground just a few feet ahead from the scene behind her. Even from her obstructed view, she could easily identify the form of the forgotten doll, as it was abandoned on the ground again and was now stained with the blood of the last person that had been in ownership of it. Her fingers itched to go out and pick the decrepit thing up again, but she pushed that fleeting thought away as quickly as it had come.

In some ways, she figured the doll perhaps had been an unintentional yet physical representation as a last sliver of hope for the wayward healer as she had wanted to try and find its nameless owner in a feeble attempt to escape her unwilling predicament. But in the end, trying to latch onto that and find even the smallest chance had resulted in nothing but pain and death as previous examples had shown time and time again.

Julianna held back from the need of wanting to suddenly start weeping from all the built up emotions she had been repressing. She took a long shaky inhale of breath and held it in for a long time as she moved her head to shove it between the space of Jokoʼs arm and side. Her sense of smell was immediately overwhelmed by the all-too familiar stench of decay and myrrh.

The undead ruler meanwhile had paused from his literal petting of bouncy hair when he felt the short mortal in his hold move to shove her face closer into him. He hummed aloud, looking down to see that her face couldn't even be seen anymore as she had buried it in the crook of his arm. He clicked his tongue in annoyance, even though he certainly hadn't minded the warmer body moved up against him.

"If the tart is done with her charade now, then I'd like to get a move on before I actually die from old age", Joko suddenly remarked aloud, his voice devoid of any and all humor as he pulled himself away from the current leech against him and began pooling dark-looking magic into his hands.

"What about-" she had tried but her question was interrupted when a surge of necromantic healing magic shot through the injured area of her arm before it continued traveling upward and then down again towards the area of her hip. She physically shivered as a reaction, as it had felt like a barrier of ice traveled throughout the inner machinations of her muscle and bone.

"Your injuries are but a mere and trivial thing", the Scourge said with an unimpressed tone as he watched his own much more powerful work fix the two bleeding wounds in a much more timely manner than what would have been done. His grotesque and eerie-looking magic was quite the contrast of appearance compared to the light and airy blue coloring he usually saw from the more divine-esque powers.

"Doylak spit... I almost forgot what that felt like..." she mumbled, her breath still shaky but now a bit calmer. Brows knit together with concern though as she looked down to see the skin on her hip and arm had mended back together and was now covered by a sinewy black mass of color atop it. She had been reminded all too well of the very first time the lich had healed a wound of hers, as it had been a shock to see the color staining her skin for a lengthy amount of time. Even now it still seemed to be somewhat of a jarring surprise.

"Let's go _little one_ , we can properly fix your apparent lack of scarab problem back at the Bone Palace when we return", Joko beckoned as he turned to leave Twilight Oasis back towards Palawadan once more. He hadn't turned around to wait, as he knew his companion would quickly began walking after him. "Our business here has concluded anyway. Wurmmarshal Ekolo can wrap things up and finish ensuring there are no more remnants of those Sunspear dogs are straggling around."


	35. Taking Turns

**I don't own anything except for my OC.**

 **Author's** **Note:** Thank you all for your patience with this update!

xxx

 _"Let's go little one, we can properly fix your lack of apparent scarab problem back at the Bone Palace", Joko beckoned as he turned to leave Twilight Oasis towards Palawadan once more._

The boat ride back to the mainland of Elona had been less-than uneventful, especially when the boat had half the crew compared to its journey forward. Of course, the chatty nobles had been left back in Palawadan, which meant it was considerably more quiet without their gossiping squabble. Save for only one mortal woman on the journey back, the entirely of the current crew were Awakened. The functionality that the undead didn't really require rest or sleep, was seen as quite the advantageous asset given that it meant they could work endlessly up until they were practically falling apart from their stitched together seams filled in between with tar.

The majority of those within the Awakened brigand had remained on the top deck with their ruler, as most were excitedly conversing about the bloodshed that had just occurred back in Twilight Oasis. A few scarce others were flitting about their undead ruler in hopes of catching any kind of praise from The Eternal Monarch of All as he remained lingering about the middle section of the deck. Those few Awakened that weren't concerned with trying to earn a stray compliment were instead manning the ship and all of its working parts, though that was few and far between.

Julianna had hid herself away in the lower bowels of the ship in an attempt to catch up on sleep, but it seemed that was an unfeasible quest. Her mind was still too occupied with the traumatic events that she had just barely been able to walk away from.

Her sunken-looking eyes stared up at the wooded ceiling above her as she swayed lightly to and fro in the scratchy wool cot. It reminded her all too well of the dust-ridden bed that was awaiting her back in the Desolation. And whether it was in a poor condition or not, she was looking forward to the familiarity of her drab-looking room once again. A lazy, naked foot hung over the side as she moved it rhythmically with no real movement behind it and listened to the sound of waves crashing against the outside of the ship.

Some seconds ticked by before she brought her marred arm back in front of her to obscure her vision for the umpteenth time again as she stared at the blotchy-looking dark mark that was staining the surface of her ivory skin. She couldn't yet look over that the horrible figure of Palawa Joko whom was responsible for uprooting her entire life, was also the very same one who had healed her with his own necromantic magic not just once, but now on two separate occasions.

A single finger hesitated just above it the dark sinewy mass of iridescent-looking color, before she pulled it down across the length of its mark. Since arriving to the ship again in the Palawadan harbor, her intention was to try and sleep through the boat ride back into the mainland, but it seemed a peaceful slumber wasn't going to come as easily when her brain was constantly recycling questions through her brain.

"Joko has now had more than enough opportunities to turn me into an Awakened servant yet he still chooses not to", she thought to herself. "But why?"

She then began to start back with at the beginning with the same question that had been rolling around in her head. The wayward healer began to think of her own relationship with the terrible ruling lich and thought about what it's current standpoint was. She hadn't exactly hated him, even though she was still immensely fearful of him and still held some slight resentment as to what he had done. But the fear was was mostly deeply ingrained because she had first hand seen and experienced what the powerful, and unpredictable Necromancer was capable of.

Back in the earlier days of when she had first met the infamous ruler, she had sworn to retain her sense of stubbornness around him, as it was one of the incredibly few things she had left to fight back with. And proudly enough, she had been holding herself to that promise since then, even though it had caused her a number of problems of the varying sort.

Julianna thoughts moved forward to around the time shortly after her capture, as she pieced together that something had happened when she had decided to start sharing seemingly innocent conversations with him back during the early days of her working as a healer to the Awakened within the Bone Palace. She had made it a habit to find the time to come talk to him whenever her work was finished, as she really had no one else in macabre fortress to talk to. Those seemingly naive conversations were certainly spurred by taunts and suggestive comments from the lich, and she figured that had unknowingly helped spur that bizarre affiliation from her own reactions to playing along with it.

"Doylak spit...", she cursed aloud as she realized the inevitable answer that was at the end of the question she kept asking herself. The frustrated woman scratched feverishly at the mark on her arm before throwing her hands into the curls of her head and letting them getting tangled within her blonde locks as she continued to just lay there in a frustrated mess of pouts and grumbles.

The irked looking person decided a change of conversation and scenery was desperately needed to help shift her conflicted feelings. She peered over to the occupied cot right next to hers, as they were among dozens of others that were strung every which way between whatever two beams were available on this level of the ship. Her eyes locked with the sleeping pair of the Awakened one next to her.

"Hey, Crabby", she beckoned with a hushed tone as she tried to wake him back up. "Are you awake still?"

"I am now...", he grumbled with irritation in his tone, daring to open one of his sharp yellow eyes to glare at the pest right next to him. It was just his luck that he had been on the half of the battalion that was coming back to the Bone Palace with their leader. Had he been ordered to stay back in Palawadan to clean up the mess in Twilight Harbor, it would have meant he wouldn't have to be here currently to deal with the obnoxious doctor.

He assumed he must have had the worst luck in the entirety of the whole Awakened army as he just continued to get stuck with the stubborn Doylak of a woman at every which possible way.

"Do you happen to know where the grumpy bag of bones is right now", she asked with an obvious uncertainty in her tone, her hand subconsciously moving to play with the ring on her finger.

"How should I know?" Crabby replied back as he turned so his massive back was now facing towards her. "You're the one attached at his hip most times these days. I'm honestly taken aback you wouldn't know."

"Very funny... I'll just go find him myself then", Julianna replied back just as snappily. She quickly maneuvered herself awkwardly around in the hanging cloth as she tried to free herself.

"Watch your foot so it doesn't get entangled and you-" Crabby tried, but he spoke too soon as he immediately heard the woman fall in a heap to the floorboard below.

He finished the last few words. "Fall on your face... as per usual." He rolled his eyes, not at all surprised that the predictable woman who had a lack of awareness to most things had done exactly what he had tried to warn against. He listened to the string of immature curses that rolled out from her mouth as she righted herself back up on two standing legs again.

The Awakened soldier continued. "I'm amazed you've never accidentally fallen into the sulfurous river right outside the Bone Palace", Crabby said with a chuckle as he thought back to when she had been tripping over things even on the way to Istan. Although his back was still turned in the cot, he could only imagine that the woman had likely stuck her tongue straight out towards him before retreating up the ladder to the upper deck of the ship again.

xxx

Joko had quite literally gotten himself stuck between a rock and a hard place as he was subject to listening to one of his Archons ramble to him about matters that he had zero care about. The lich slowly dragged his hands down his face in hope that the thickheaded minion would take a hint, but he was questioning if the poor sod even had a brain anymore given he didn't pick up on it.

At this point in time, he would have rather listened to Grand Vizier Utumishi rambling off in a tangent about imported soaps as his adviser often did whenever the opportunity arose.

Julianna meanwhile ascended to the top of the ladder, keeping her head just above the floor's open descent as she scouted around the deck's surface for the person she was in search for. She frowned when she was suddenly hit with a gust of the salty, cold wind from the surrounding sea. It was quickly realized from the colder temperate that she was going to need a new coat of some kind, as the ratty looking trench coat she had become somewhat fond of had been carelessly left behind in the Sunspear house without much second thought during her fleeting escape from a murderous rebel.

Upon spotting the familiar figure of the tall undead ruler adorned in an obnoxious amount of tarnished ornaments, she pulled herself atop the open deck and made headway towards the center of the ship with ambition in her steps. Her bare feet sounded like light footsteps as they padded upon the wooden planks. She wasn't even sure why she was going ahead with the sudden need to seek the one person that had been bothering her thoughts so much. But there was a greater need pulling her to go have a conversation with him.

Any second guesses she had been having about the person were eliminated when she had picked up on the change of the lich's facial expression when he took notice of who was approaching him. Although his features were often hard to read anyway given the undead ruler had a knack for remaining indecipherable, he did seem to perk up considerably as he had been looking quite displeased just before.

"So it would appear the little tart has finally decided to make an appearance again after nearly dying to some lowly Sunspear, how admirable", he began, moving away from the Archon and surrounding group of Awakened. To him, anything would have been a step up from the grating conversation he was currently listening to, but the familiar face of his favorite source of entertainment was an immediate added bonus.

The doctor didn't say anything as she approached, instead biting her tongue to prevent her from saying anything rash that would get her into more trouble.

"Very funny... I just came to talk", she said sheepishly as she scratched at the mark on her arm again and avoided making eye contact as she focused on anywhere else. The bubbling pit of fear in her stomach from being within the intimidating presence of the necromancer was short lived this time around.

"Oh? Reminiscing for the old days, are you?" he asked, turning his head to the side as he thought back to the familiarity of when his healer would come seeking him out for the same thing after a day of routine work. Of course, he certainly knew that he wouldn't have admitted it aloud to anyone but himself, but he had found himself looking forward to the little talks at the end of each day when they were allowed.

"No", she stubbornly shot back before realizing that was basically the exact reason why she had come back topside. She was briefly stunned that he had so easily pinpointed the unknown ambition she herself had been struggling to understand just before. "Well, I mean maybe. But I also wanted to ask about the scarab again."

"You mean your lack of one thereof?" he asked amused, eyes darting down to where his magic had temporarily blocked the condition of the injury on her arm. It wasn't quite fixed, but it also wasn't bleeding copiously anymore which was exactly what he had needed as it would mean that putting a new scarab in her arm would be all the more easier when it came to that time.

He continued, crossing her arms across his broad chest. "Like I said before, I'll be putting a new one back in the same area of your muscle once we arrive to the Bone Palace again. The magic I put on your arm currently will at least leave it at a standstill."

"Imp gall...", she muttered as she finally dared to make eye contact with the much taller figure, her own dark eyes meeting a blue pair. "You wouldn't trust me enough to not have one this time around?"

"No", Joko replied with zero hesitation. His trust with her had been recovered to some extent, but it wasn't going to be fully restored again for quite some time. He watched as she crossed the short threshold to the ship's railing and placed her elbows atop it before letting her chin rest in her hands.

"Of course... let's talk about something else then", she mumbled. "Did you enjoy those diplomatic trips you went on with your mother?" she asked, looking out to what looked like a never-ending seascape as she thought back to the trail of similar conversation they had shared on the way to Istan.

The brooding lich didn't answer immediately, instead leaving a long pause to the question as he tried to decipher what she was doing. He moved to go stand next to his healer, his own clawed feet ticking against the hard wood of the floor as he deciphered she just actually wanted to talk and there was no hidden game in her agenda. "They ended up being beneficial in more ways than one", he replied with a click of his tongue, still feeling baffled as to why the woman was so curious about his past living life.

Eventually the conversation between the two had mostly become one-sided as Julianna had been the one mostly leveling questions at the undead ruler which he was more than happy to answer given it was bolstering his own egotistical and self-centered personality. The questions were mostly around asking him again about what his past life was like before he had become a tyrannical undead ruler that was hellbent on taking over a continent with his use of intimidating tactics and thoughtful sabotage. Julianna had found it incredibly amusing that at some point, he had very likely traveled to a young and immature region of Kryta. Ironically, the very same place that had housed Lion's Arch, which in turn became the place she had called home for a period of time in her life. Though given how old the lich actually was, meant that it was likely a incredibly time long before she would have ever stepped foot in the sea-faring harbor.

Later on after some vanishing hour had passed, there was a point when there was finally a lull in the conversation and Joko decided to shift the conversation into something else entirely as he wished to divulge into his own greedy and self-fulfilling needs.

"You know, curiosity killed the griffon, but I'm oh-so curious about the continuation of that little game between the two of us", he began, moving himself to lean sideways against the railing as he was able to more closely observe the person's facial expressions next to him. He grinned when he could see how it immediately made the woman shift uncomfortably and tense up from the comment.

"What about it?" she asked, biting the bottom of her lip as she continued staring ahead while now refusing to make eye contact with the much taller undead that was now staring right at her as though she were a specimen on display.

"It's technically still your turn to enact upon", he said with a bored wave of a hand as he examined the pointed digits of his hand. "Since apparently with the last one, I had indulged back into it and lost a turn. And lest we not forget, you chose to entirely not count the drunken one from the night before."

"Well, with good reason on that last one...", she muttered, unfortunately just loud enough for the other person to hear as the words were rolling out before she had a chance to think them over. A hand flew to her mouth in a vain attempt to cover the spoken words though it was far too late.

"Oh? Did I just hear that correctly?" Joko asked as his eyes crinkled with sheer amusement upon easily picking up the words. "I mean, I can certainly vouch for you and agree that everything about it was sloppy and much less than delightful. Though I will say it was a nice surprise to say the least."

Julianna moved her head just slightly to shoot a glare, though she could feel her face burning with embarrassment as he described in detail how poorly that moment of brief intimacy had gone during her moment of heavy inebriation. Although she believed she had made up for the next morning after, the memory was still an awkward blunder for her and she wished she could have had the experience completely erased.

"But I digress, it's technically still your turn, _tart_ ", he continued after taking the time to observe her bluster.

The woman mulled over the words, and suddenly a terrible idea hatched within her stubborn-thinking head because she realized what possible move she could enact on this supposed turn of hers. The red blotchy color slowly drained back from her face, and she fully turned to face the lich with a less-than innocent looking smile on her freckled face. She beckoned the much taller figure next to her with a single finger, a wordless exchange given that she would need him to lean down considerably given their drastic height difference.

Joko raised a brow high into his headdress, immediately suspicious of the woman's sudden boldness which seemed completely out of character given her usual disposition.

"What could you possibly be getting at-" he replied with a mirrored smile of his own as he thought of what this was potentially leading up to, though it was quickly wiped from his face when the only thing he received was a quick peck on one his his sunken-looking cheeks when the woman stood up on her toes to gift it to him. The welcomed heat from her own self was but a wisp at it had disappeared almost as quickly as it had come.

The Scourge went to stand back up to his full towering height much too quickly again, and was now looking incredibly bemused from the act as he leered down to see the incredibly charmed looking face the woman was now sporting as her face held the visual cue that she knew exactly what little game she was pulling strings at.

"Perfidy. That shouldn't count as one", he quickly shot back, his gravely tone completely devoid of entertainment. His face looked far less than pleased, as his brows were tightly drawn together and he leered back at the amused face that was still watching his own.

"Except we never had set parameters in effect for this so-called game", she said with a coy-looking smile as she cocked her head to the side.

"So it would seem...", he muttered in a disappointed tone, rubbing his cheek of the area where the woman's mouth had just been for a short second. His disappointment was quickly replaced with annoyance when she playfully stuck her tongue up towards him in a silent jeer of her own.

His hand moved back away from his face again as it instead moved down to grip the woman's chin, swiftly interrupting her charade as he held the delicate flesh in his grip. "Then from now on, it's been restricted to lips only. Unless of course you'd prefer elsewhere", he said with finality as he pressed her cheeks together with a thumb and pointer finger.

"Don't push your luck grumpy bag of bones", she said awkwardly through pushed lips as her stubborn behavior wasn't going to allow him that much leeway so soon. Although she could feel her face burning with embarrassment from the suggestion, she had at least gained the upper hand on him for once, and it was obvious he was quite miffed about it.

He released the hold on her chin, and the petite woman remained awkwardly standing there next to the deck's railing as she just watched him remain just a few feet away from her. Not seconds had ticked by before a terrible idea of his own arose and that familiar coy smile was now on his jewelry decorated face again and he placed his arms behind his back and stood tall. He could see her own face quickly falter when she immediately realized he wasn't going to enact upon that new rule so soon.

Julianna's victory was short lived, as once again, it seemed nothing could have gone right for too long.

Joko presented a short wink to his favorite source of entertainment before stalking away to return with matters aboard the ship once more as he actively looked around for one his archons to pester with questions. He had decided that in a show of petty revenge, he was going to let the woman stew in that uncertainty for a bit as she was now having to wait around on eggshells for him to enact on his move since it was now effectively his turn.

The wayward healer continued to stand there, watching the egotistical ruler walk away as she kept a displeased frown on her face. Her hands returned back to the messy curls of her hair as she let them get tangled in another fit of pouts upon realizing she had circled completely around from her previous dilemma and was right back to that familiar question once again.


	36. Scarabs and Wine

**I don't own anything except for my OC.**

 **Author's** **Note:** Thank you all for your patience again with this update.

xxx

 _Her hands returned back to the messy curls of her hair as she let them get tangled in another fit of pouts upon realizing she had circled completely around from her previous dilemma and was right back to that familiar question once again._

The army of shambling Awakened, along with their wretched undead ruler and an incredibly unsure mortal healer, had eventually made headway back into the familiarity of the dangerous environment of the Desolation. The group made immediate headway back towards the Bone Palace once their ship had made port upon cragged-looking land again.

The wounds Julianna had recently obtained from the attacking rebel Sunspear back in Twilight Oasis had only been healed temporarily with the lich king's necromantic healing magic, which left them at a temporary standstill until something more proper was done to resolve the issue. Joko and his weary-looking asset had quickly retired back into the seclusion of his private quarters upon reaching the familiarity of the bone-laden fortress. The unusual duo were now situated within the confines of the undead ruler's private study that was located underneath the tar-decorated hole of Bitumen Reserve.

The other Awakened within their group had split off into their own, respective groups as they either returned to their never-ending training, or they instead left to go patrol the dangers of the surrounding sulfurous wastes in hopes of catching some shifty Order of Shadows agent.

Within Joko's macabre-looking office, the brooding lich was currently standing in front of one of the two large cabinets that had been standing against the farthest wall of the room. The cases were chock full of an assortment of magical objects and weapons of the varying kind that he had picked up over the ruling years of his undeath. Sunken-looking eyes scanned the few heavily occupied shelves before landing on the object in question that he had been searching so fervently for. He was now working on the task of renewing the scarab scout in the woman's recently wounded arm, as the previous one had been caught and exterminated prematurely within the crossfire. And he didn't quite trust the person to be without one given he less than reputable track record of escaping his clutches.

Julianna meanwhile was languidly sitting in the all-too familiar seat across from the owner's desk. It had been the very same one since the last encounter she had spent in the room. Her knees were pulled up to her chest, as she was still struggling to comprehend the events that had occurred over the last twenty four hours. She had been hoping that the conversation she had shared with the unpredictable being aboard the ship would have helped ease her mind, but it seemed to have only made things worse. Her brows were drawn tightly together in deep thought, as her eyes remained trained on the roll of bandages she had brought back from her room.

Since arriving back to the mainland and beginning the journey back to the Bone Palace on foot, she had remained unusually quiet as she was still entirely conflicted with her own thoughts. Joko of course, had tried to entice some kind of reaction through his usual charades of teasing, but he had visually remained looking disappointingly unsuccessful on his end of things. After too many failed attempts, he decided to leave the woman alone as she remained lingering about near the back of their merry group of reanimated cadavers. Of the few times he had actually been bothered to look back to check on her progress, she had been caught red-handed as she was staring at his back or was instead focused on the black sinewy mass of necromantic magic that was still coating her arm.

Back in the present once more, Joko walked back across the room to where his guest was seated after finding what he had been looking for. The occasional sound of his clawed feet making noise whenever they crossed across an area of the floor that hadn't been obscured with some ornate looking rug of the finest fibers. He sat down upon the bone-laden and extravagantly decorated desk chair that was made with a questionable amount of Centaur spines. He deposited the small ornate-looking box upon the desk with a surprising gentleness as he knew the contents inside were quite delicate.

"My dear, you look stressed", he began once he was situated within his chair. He crossed his ring decorated hands across his lap before he looked to see the impassive face of his guest. "You know, there are ways to relieve that quite easily, right?"

Julianna's mouth was a near-invisible line as she glared at the intricately dressed person across from her. She kept the lower half of her face nearly shoved into her arms which were still crossed above her knees.

"What are you getting at?" she asked slowly, the inescapable red color blotching the entirety of her face as she realized she knew exactly what he was referring to only seconds later. She was kicking herself again for deciding to peruse a medical-related background as her brain was immediately thinking back to reading anatomy books that discussed the release of endorphins during certain physical activities.

He chuckled lowly, reaching down and fishing around for something in the desk's lower cabinet drawers before procuring a bottle of wine atop his desk. The bottle made a loud thudded echo throughout the room as it caused his already-flighty guest to nearly jump in her seat.

"I was merely hinting at the consumption of alcohol, nothing more", he continued, sounding completely guilty of what he had just previously suggested. "Though I digress... it certainly sounds like you were thinking of something entirely else? Which sounds... unusually provocative, coming from the tart."

The woman looked nearly to that of a red beacon upon hearing the all-too suggestive words that she had foolishly walked straight into. It was even worse off knowing that she was the only other person in the room and was directly in the line of fire from the conversation. She stared at the corner of the desk in front of her, not even daring to make front eye contact with the lich anymore.

She kept her hands plastered to where they were, continuing to stare at the dated piece of wooden furniture. "Very funny... but no. That wasn't what I was thinking of at all."

"Your face says otherwise", Joko replied without even skipping a beat. He couldn't hide the all-knowing smile on his face when she dropped her legs to the floor and her dark eyes snapped back up at him and were ablaze with something to that of embarrassed rage.

"Anyway, we do have have pressing matters to attend to with your arm", he continued, reaching back down and grabbing two goblets as he decided a bit of wine wasn't going to actually hurt for the upcoming situation. Given what procedure was about to be done, he figured the woman was going to need it. "How ironic that I'll be getting to play the role of doctor again while you get to be the patient."

"Once again, very funny...", Julianna mumbled again, as her hand moved to massage the wounded area of her arm. She figured that the sooner this was all said and done, then the sooner she could return back to her room for much needed sleep.

xxx

The curly haired doctor was unusually quiet once again as she kept her forearm extended out atop the table and was mindlessly watching the work being done on her arm. Her dark circle laden eyes looked incredibly tired, and the woman was struggling to stay awake as her head kept snapping up back into consciousness. The filled goblet of red wine in front of her had hardly been touched, as she hadn't been very interested in the alcoholic drink this second time around. Her fatigued thoughts had still been replaying back to all of the events that occurred back in Palawadan and Twilight Harbor, as she was still struggling to come to terms with how easily she could have been killed had Joko not stepped in to intervene at the last possible second.

The wound she had received from the sword slice hadn't been properly healed quite yet, as the Scourge had used some type of twisted-looking cauterizing spell to simply halt the bleeding process for the time being. The area of skin was surrounding by a sinewy looking mass of dark coloring as the corresponding tendrils twisted and raveled themselves around the entirety of her forearm. It had looked exactly the same as when he had used the same magic to heal the dagger wound in her upper shoulder.

A small scarab was scuttering around in the intricate gilded box that had been deposited atop the desk just nearby. The insect was a twin to replace the one that had been unintentionally killed in the crossfire of battle.

Joko leaned forward in his chair, carefully grabbing hold of the beetle between his two digits as he held it up to inspect more closely. Throughout his prolonged life, he had always had an affiliation towards the little creatures, and he had even made sure to include them within his decorated banners and wardrobe. His eyes looked past the insect to see his healer was hardly paying any attention to the situation at hand. She appeared to be lost within her own world once again, as she had been staring at the same corner of the desk for the past few minutes now.

"A shame you'll be conscious for the insertion of this oh-so, lively scarab", he said aloud, finally breaking the silence between the two. He watched as she finally blinked and slightly turned to face him, her mouth turning to the side before she returned to look at the exact same spot as before.

He ignored her lack of enthusiasm for the time being and proceeded with the process. His other hand moved to grab her injured limb as he tightly held it down in place, though she held little objections as the arm was like dead weight. His scarab occupied hand moved down to hover above the open wound, as he gently deposited the insect onto the exposed flesh. A smile graced his face as he watched the scout excitedly dig itself into its new home.

His head excitedly snapped back up, the jingling or ornaments on his headdress making noise with the action. He was hopeful to see even at least a glimmer of disgust upon the woman's face, but it seemed she was living up to her stubborn nature as she wasn't exhibiting even an ounce of it. The split second of excitement that had been on the decrepit-looking lich had vanished as quickly as it had come.

"You know, this isn't quite as fun when you're not experiencing the pain I had been so graciously expecting", he mulled aloud with an exaggerated sigh, tone now sounding bored as he was disappointed in the lack of visible cues from the woman.

Julianna instinctively wanted to pull her arm away when she could feel the scarab shoving itself into her flesh, but she had a vice-like grip keeping her limb still pinned down to the table. The muscles in her limb anxiously twitched, and she struggled to keep a straight face as she could feel the insect make a new home into the muscles of her flesh. She had been so preoccupied by focusing on not making a fuss from the procedure, that she hadn't noticed her temporary doctor move forward to lightly pat her on the cheek.

"All done, which means my incredibly impressive work here is complete", Joko boasted with finality as he drew back into his seat again and grabbed his goblet that had now been twice filled with the potent alcohol. "Nothing that the Eternal Monarch of All cannot fix."

The healer merely blinked, looking down into the still open laceration on her arm. She frowned, realizing then that the work was still left incomplete. "What about closing it back up?"

"Bah, you can do that on your own now", the lich said as he brought the cup to his lips and took a generous swig.

"Except that I can't", Julianna replied simply, as she moved her arm to better showcase the dark remnants of sinewy-looking tendrils still staining her skin. "It's impossible for me to heal over your magic when you've used it on someone. Trust me, I tried pretty quickly after back when I got that nasty shoulder blade wound in Vabbi that you also healed."

Joko seemed momentarily at a loss for words that something so simple had eluded his own grand pool of knowledge. Though yet again, he figured there was never a time he had willingly chosen to heal another person who just happened to be the near opposite field of expertise as him. He hummed aloud in thought, sitting forward again and relinquishing the cup atop the desk before he grabbed the extended arm again and pushed a swell of necromantic healing magic into the open wound.

There was a silent pause between the duo, as neither said a word while the dark magic worked its spell to mend torn skin back together once more.

"Tell me, how old do you think Utumishi is?" the Scourge suddenly asked, while he quickly finished healing up the exposed muscle on the woman's arm. It was of little magic use for him to complete, and the skin mended up together with that familiar grotesque looking mass.

"I've never been bothered to care much about the leech of a man. So... Skritt hair... I don't know, middle-aged maybe?" Julianna replied, looking confused as to why the question was randomly brought up. She gave her arm a quick once over as she determined the work to have been sufficient enough. She reached over to grab the roll of bandages once he was done and began to wrap her arm up again.

"Oh, but he's far more older than that", the lich continued, voice now sounding quite serious as he languidly sat back into his chair and moved an exaggerated clawed hand around as he spoke. "I would dare to say even a couple of centuries old at this point."

The woman had immediately paused in her task as the unbelievable sounding words hit her like a rampaging Minotaur. She frowned, looking up to address the undead ruler's face to see if he was sporting a smile and obviously pulling her leg, but she was taken aback to see his stoic facial expression hadn't changed.

"What? You're actually being serious for once? But...how can he be that old?" she asked the obvious question. "I mean, he's not exactly a walking cadaver, like some others I know."

Joko leaned forward in his chair again, lacing his tar stained hands underneath his chin as he ignored that last jab. "I found it rather amusing you back when you had noticed that little tattoo on his hand right before the assault on Twilight Oasis. I never said anything about it at the time during your hungover state of mind, but it may entirely have to do with me."

Julianna frowned at the memory of her irresponsible alcohol intake and only nodded as she went back to her work of re-bandaging, presenting him the physical cue to continue with the conversation.

"He's an Awakened, and yet he isn't really", the undead ruler replied as he continued to closely watch his guest for any cue of expression change. "I granted him an extension of his life. Which, might I add was an oh-so, wonderful gift he is quite thankful for."

The freckled woman frowned as she held eye contact, not believing the gilded words so easily as she finished her own work of covering up her grotesque-looking limb. "Look, I can believe the extended life thing given... well... you. But I don't believe such a thing on another person would come without any kind of consequence, so what's the repercussion in all of this?" she asked.

"His life is literally within my own hands, as my magic is already well imbued within his blood", Joko said, motioning to his guest with his head. "Much like how some of mine is already within you as well. Though I will admit, back when I had first healed your shoulder, it was somewhat unintentional.

"You still haven't answered my question", Julianna stubbornly shot back quickly as her hand unconsciously moved up to ghost around the area of where there was still a faded scar on her shoulder, not liking the sound of where things were going.

Joko clicked his tongue and removed a hand from underneath his chin as he spoke with the extended limb conducting around through the air again. "If it at any moment, I decided that I wanted to exterminate his life, I could choose to do so with just the mere ease of just a snap of my fingers."

The bewildered-looking healer could feel her entire frame freeze up and her blood run cold as he snapped his fingers together for dramatic effect. Half of her conscious had been expecting that Utumishi had just dropped dead somewhere within the Bone Palace, but she figured that probability was incredibly unlikely. Though with an unpredictable and temperamental person like Joko, she was having second thoughts.

"But of course, that's only if I choose to do so", he added with finality while grabbing his filled goblet and leaning back in his chair again.

"Why?" she simply asked with a raised brow.

"Continuing to parade around and find an adviser that I can somewhat tolerate becomes awfully tedious", he remarked, now sounding bored with the conversation as he looked past the woman to stare at some random portrait of himself on the wall. "I grow irritated with the need of constantly finding new ones whenever I prematurely eradicate one."

"And... did he choose that, willingly?" she asked with a hushed tone as she finally reached forward to indulge in her own drink. She was still in slight disbelief over everything that she was being told.

"Of course he did, do you really think that ill of me?" he asked, attention snapping back towards his guest while mocking an exaggeration of sounding genuinely upset. "It's not something I grant very often to the still-living, if ever at all. Turning my minions into brainwashed servants is far more effective and much less of a strain on my own abilities."

There was an incredibly long pause between the two of them as the words slowly sunk in.

"So, why are you telling me this?" she asked, her own dark eyes meeting a pair of blue ones that were watching her with the utmost splendor of mischief.

As always for the wayward healer, it had become quite apparent from her dealings with Palawa Joko that things never went too right for too long.


	37. End of the Game

**I don't own anything except for my OC.**

 **Author's** **Note:** Thank you AGAIN all for your patience again with this update!

xxx

 _"So, why are you telling me this?" she asked, her own dark eyes meeting a pair of blue ones that were watching her with the utmost splendor of mischief._

 _As always for the wayward healer, it had become quite apparent from her dealings with Palawa Joko that things never went too right for too long._

"My dear, you were awfully close to death yourself back in Twilight Oasis", Joko remarked with a raised brow as his head quizzically turned to the side while he addressed his companion. "Had that lovely little scarab in your arm not been accidentally hacked at, I am quite sure we would have stumbled upon your corpse. The insect's death was an indication to me that you had either foolishly tried removing it, or something far worse had happened. It was that last second of the scarab's untimely death that made me immediately summon that Awakened Candid upon your attacker."

"But... even if I had been cut down before you got to me, you still could have Awakened me into another of your zombie-like followers", Julianna quickly retorted back while staring at the deep red color of the wine inside her cup and inwardly wincing at the concept of being brought back to life after death. She had many sleepless nights back in her pitiful excuse of a room where she had mulled that very possible idea over time and time again. Her brain simply couldn't come to terms with it though after working on her Awakened patients on a near daily basis.

The weathered and intricately dressed lich only laughed at the comment, the corners of his eyes crinkling with amusement. "Now where's the fun in that? It's far more fun when my favorite source of entertainment is still alive, warm and well."

The fluffy haired woman looked to one of the bookshelves lining the nearby wall as she felt her face burn at the statement and filled her cheeks with warm air. As like many of his previous sultry comments, this once was laced with an obvious suggestive tone given the remark to warmer body temperature. She sat further back in her chair and pulled her legs up and towards her chest while continuing to cradle her alcoholic drink.

"My entire reasoning for bringing up my dutiful adviser's prolonged life however, is because I am willing to extend that same olive branch to you, tart", the undead ruler said after a long pause once he realized his suggestion wasn't going anywhere at least for now. He drummed a clawed hand against the surface of the table in a bored manner while he went on with his explanations.

"To what purpose?" she asked, still keeping her eyes trained on some random book spine on the bookshelf while the cup was brought back to her mouth.

"Well, it would be with favorable reason that you get to hang around the likes of me for as long as I determined. We could continue on with our merry little game, and you could continue working as a healer for my ever-growing Awakened army as I continue with my unstoppable takeover of Elona."

"And would I eventually start to look like the great, grumpy bag of bones?" she asked, still hardly being careful of her word choice as the comment simply rolled out of her mouth without much second thought.

"At least not for an incredibly long time. I mean, let's just look at my doting Utumishi for an example. His physical state is not in much of a decline, at least not yet. But even besides that, he hardly contests with the amount of years I have surpassed on him ", Joko boasted, waving an exaggerated hand down to himself for visual purpose. He was still carefully watching for the change of facial expression in the person across from him, as he was trying to get a read on what she was thinking about the whole matter. Though it was proving to be difficult with her continual bullheadedness. He knew he was going to need to prod a bit deeper to incite some kind of reaction.

He then continued with a smile and an upbeat tone which was deceivingly opposite for where he was going next. "The effects would start to show with time, of course. And I imagine the effects of decomposition would slowly begin creep in after a prolonged amount of years have passed. Usually that would start with organs beginning to shut down and then-"

"Doylak spit, okay. I can understand where you're going with this", Julianna interrupted as she shot a glare to the lich across the table from just behind her knees as she still had them up like a shield. Her face turned into a grimace as she absorbed the reality of the spoken words. Her own medical background made her all too familiar with the effects of a body after death, and she currently didn't want a reminder of what could potentially happen.

She finished off the remnants of her drink, placing her feet back on the floor and putting the intricate looking goblet back down upon the desk before continuing with her own questions. "I imagine it's a... necromantic spell of some sort then. Would it be irreversible?"

"No", Joko said simply, quickly finishing the contents of his nearly full cup so that he could begin pouring another round to the both of them again. Even though he was on his third cup of the supposed strongly brewed beverage, it still had hardly an effect on him due to his undead tolerance. "If anything, it's a small percentage of my own power extended to you. Because of that, it's efficiency is also diminished, as the both of you would not share the same power of immortality as I possess."

"Which means?..." the healer asked, dark eyes watching the cups being filled up once more. She was hesitant on a second glass already, since she was all too familiar with the irresponsibility of indulging in one-too many cups of the specially concocted brews for the undead type. The last thing she needed right now was another drunken escapade while within the presence of someone she had an unusual interest within.

"You certainly don't get to raise the dead or consume the life force of others, as I do. Like I mentioned earlier, you'll get an extension of life which is under my own charitable management and that is simply all. You yourself though, are still very much in a... fragile and squishy state", the lich stated, as he placed the now empty bottle down somewhere on the floor next to him and grabbed his re-filled cup.

Julianna was currently torn between what to think of all this newly proposed information of elongating her life to some degree. It wasn't quite the same effect as being Awakened, but it still came with its own bundle of consequences as well. Not only that, but she was torn with reason as to why she would actually go through with it. The glaring issue was that she would be having her life quite literally within someone else's palm. But even so, at any point she knew that the undead ruler had more than enough opportunities to eliminate her to a pile of steaming slag, and yet he still hadn't after all this time. Which meant there really wasn't much being held above her head other than her own reasoning.

Joko meanwhile was brooding upon his own reasons for extending the generous offer. It would be with good reason that he could continue fueling his further selfish reasons of wanting to prod at the lashing out flame of a person he had come to know. While he had been able to break some of those walls down, she had still proven herself to be incredibly stubborn around him at times. And while he wouldn't want to completely tear that down to a point of no return when it was no longer fun, he still wanted some time to experiment more around it and push buttons to the farthest extent he could go.

While he wouldn't outwardly ever admit it to anyone, the tiny flame of a mortal had come to grow on him.

"Can I at least have some time to think it over before I make a decision on it?" she finally answered with a tired sounding sigh. She knew this wasn't a decision that could be made on a whim's notice, at least not for her.

"I suppose that I, The Great and oh-so Generous, Palawa Ignacious Joko, could comply with that", the undead ruler replied back after a long pause between the two. It wasn't as though the woman was on death's door quite yet anyway, and precautions such as the scarab and imbued magic had long since been set in place in case of unpredictable and troubling situations. With that conversation out of the way for now, his thoughts wandered back to other pressing situations that were still hovering around.

"Tell me then, whose turn is it then?" he suddenly asked, keeping the question as vague as possible though he was very much aware of what he was getting into.

The sound of someone nearly choking on their drink could be heard within the macabre-decorated office space as they were completely caught off-guard from the question. "What?" the distraught-looking woman asked between coughs.

"No need to act so coy about it all of a sudden, since I'm sure you're just as curious about as I am", Joko continued, leaning forward atop the desk just enough so that he knew it would break the woman's personal bubble of space. The sound of clattering ornaments hanging from his headdress resonated loudly with the movement. His sunken eyes watched curiously as he could see dozens of thoughts suddenly pass through the fluffy haired woman's mind at once. Finally, he had gotten through again where visible emotion was easy to read once more.

Julianna ignored her burning face for the time being as she thought back their previous encounter on the boat trip back to the mainland and her brows tightly drew inward together. The woman was paying even less attention to the other person across from her suddenly standing up from their chair again. Focused on thinking about those recent experiences, she knew having found some kind of sly workaround to their game was going to eventually come back and bite her in the rear. At the time back when it had been her turn to initiate a move, she had decided that a peck on the cheek had been a sufficient enough counter to call it a fair play. Much to the lich's obvious disappointment towards her ploy, he had counted it if only so that it could work within his favor again.

Which, was bringing back the realization that it currently meant it still was Joko's turn to enact something within their on-going game that she had been mostly been entirely responsible for starting. She certainly wasn't regretful of it at this point considering her feelings towards the charismatic lich, but it also begged the question of what exactly kind of relationship she had with the undead ruler at this point.

The frazzled-looking healer had still been so caught up within her obsessing thoughts about the matter, that she hadn't even noticed the sudden smell of decay assaulting her sense of smell. As usual, she had been less than aware of her immediate surroundings. Joko had already walked around the side of the desk and was standing just at the side of her, still grinning from ear to ear at her showcase of realizing she was in neck deep water now.

"By the Mists, you know it was technically you that-", she had tried, but lightly jolted backwards when her peripheral vision was suddenly obstructed by a familiar grinning undead one. She had zero-time to react when a pair of leathery, tar-stained hands had cupped each side of her face, keeping her rooted to the seated spot. Before she could allow any more premature words to spill out without much second thought, an icy mouth was melding itself upon her own.

Julianna could hear her own rapidly increasing heartbeart within her ears now, as it seemed the rest of the world had been drowned out and put on momentary pause.

Although the angle for the duo was less than practical, the lich was still surprisngly gentle with his caress as he had to lean down considerably to reach her shortened height in the seat. He indulged against the feeling of a much warmer mouth against his own cold one, and he revelled in the similiar feeling warming his palms as he held the flushed, freckled skin. He almost had to hold back a cunning smile the second the woman's mouth finally began moving against his own.

Just before she could reach up to mirror his own hands with the gesture and deepen the kiss, he had already begun to pull away, the hidden smile now coming forward in all its glory.

It had been but a fleeting moment, but nonetheless still one that was short yet sweet.

The healer opened her eyes, blinking once or twice as she came back down to the planet after what had just occurred. Her head turned to see that Joko was still standing just inches away and observing with a satisfied grin on his sunken-looking face. She squirmed in her seat and flitted about with her hands, playing with the scarab ring on her finger again while looking around at just about anything other than the grinning Scourge standing right next to her. The lich always had some considerable height on her, but she somehow felt smaller than she ever had before in this vulnerable situation.

"Oh, now don't look so glum my little strawberry tart", he began with a teasing voice as he reached forward flicked the end of her already reddened nose. "After all, I'm sure the feeling is quite mutual after seeing how you've reacted to most of our experiences."

Julianna was left to sit stewing in the chair still, though it currently felt more like she was floating. She stammered on her words, struggling to even get a full sentence out since she knew what the bothersome undead ruler had said was entirely true.

Upon seeing he very much had the upper hand on things again, he headed towards the two gilded double doors that led into his office. There were still important ruling matters to attend to, as most of his attention had been diverted to his wounded healer and her dire need of replacing the scarab in her arm upon his return back to his Bone Palace. Other matters had been put on temporary hold while he prioritized making sure the woman was not walking around with a bleeding open wound that was without a living, infused magical beetle living underneath her skin. Although he would have greatly enjoyed continuing with this game, he needed to prioritize his actions.

"Well then, that would make it my turn again on this game", she finally got out, sounding more like a direct statement rather than a question once she regained her composure. She twisted her body around in the chair to watch the retreating back of the lich heading towards the hallway doors with the sound of his clawed feet ticking against the stone floor.

"I disagree, since you actually kissed back" he said with a confident tone, echoing the very same words the woman had once used on him in an all-too familiar situation. He opened one of the large gilded door, wordlessly standing by and awaiting for his favorite source of entertainment to walk through.

He was expecting for the woman to predictably retaliate in some immature manner of her own. But he was a bit taken aback to see when the woman nearly jumped out of her seat, but his surprise was quickly replaced with an all-knowing grin again when he saw her immediately struggle to regain balance as her arms conducted through the air. Though whether that was because she was still flustered about their kiss or because it was of inebriation was entirely unsure on his part.

"Very funny, but I still don't think that's fair of you", Julianna muttered as she crossed the area across the office and stopped just before the undead ruler who was standing there expectingly for her.

"I do find it rather endearing that you think I wouldn't find a way to cheat at this little charade we've been holding onto", Joko replied simply, raising a brow at the woman who was now crossing her newly bandaged arms crossed across her chest. He nearly rolled his eyes when she immediately responded by sticking her tongue up towards him for his comment.

"I think it's rather amusing you've been so honorable throughout all of it as well", Julianna muttered, sticking her nose up and walking through the open doorway with the guarantee that she had come out on top of their verbal jesting.

Though she wasn't able to get very far into the hallway before a gauntlet imbued arm had reached forward to grab her around the waist. Her hands went down to try and pry off the limb with some poor amount of effort while a noise had been lost in her throat as she was brought to sudden attention with how intimate this situation now was once she was pulled back heavily decorated chest plating. She was closely being held by the person who still managed to terrify her more than anyone else, and it was causing all manners of thoughts to traverse through her brain.

Especially after what had just occurred between the two of them just minutes before.

"By all means then tart, enact on your move again", Joko taunted as he leaned down into her ear and spoke ever so slowly and wrapped another arm around the small waist right before him. The large ring on his lower lip tickled the woman's exposed neck, and he could see goose flesh arise on her ivory skin as she shivered involuntarily.

Julianna stubbornly remained standing there comfortably within his hold, deciding through dozens of potential possibilities if she were to go through with the obvious provoke.

"Along with your previous offer about life extension, maybe I'll think about your new suggestion as well", she finally answered with a playful tone, craning her neck around to mirror his own well-worn and sly grin. "Unless of course the grumpy bag of bones would like to intervene on that instead?"

Truer words had never been spoken.

 **Another Author's** **Note:** I AM DONE! Thank you very much to all that have been keeping up with this. Your support has meant so much to me and words really cannot describe it. I wanted to leave this on a good note at some point rather than keeping this train going, you know? (But that isn't to say I'm completely done. Keep an eyeball out for potential sequel works. ;) )

ᴀʟsᴏ. ᴛʜᴏsᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴀʀᴇ ʟᴏᴏᴋɪɴɢ ғᴏʀ ʟᴇᴍᴏɴs. ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ɪs ᴀ sɪɴʙɪɴ.


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